87. Go on a Dessert Date

This is a continuation from goal 55. Go Ice Skating...so if you want the full story, you've got to read both posts. 

After we were done with our engagement pictures, we went home and popped open some champagne to celebrate.  Brian's original intention during this "break" was to cook us surf and turf which was also a surprise to me.  Unfortunately, we weren't very hungry as we had a large lunch so we postponed that dinner and had it the next evening.  I was very happy to just hang out and sip champagne with my love, however he informed me that the day was not over and that he had one more surprise in store for me. 

We headed towards downtown and as we were driving past all the storefronts, we passed a certain one that tipped me off to what we were doing.  We were going on a Dessert Date at DBar!  And our friends Ben and Megan , along with Ben's brother Elijah, were meeting us there!  At this point, nobody knew about our engagement as we were going to try to keep it a secret until Dave could edit a picture for us.  Brian asked me if we should announce it to them or let them figure it out.  I opted for B, let them figure it out.  I was wearing my ring, so it shouldn't have been too difficult.

This being a dessert date, we had dessert first and then decided to have some savory morsels after.  I ordered "Smashing Pumpkins" which was a fancy pumpkin cheesecake.  Brian ordered D=MC squared which was a presentation of chocolate with peanut butter served 3 different ways.  Both desserts were very good, very rich and very worth it! 

Picture of me eating my dessert and wearing my new engagement ring :) 

Picture of Smashing Pumpkins, partially eaten

Picture of D=MC Squared, partially eaten

After dessert, we each had dinner which ended up being way too much food.  As we wrapped up the evening, Megan had finally noticed my ring and had been giving me looks for about 20 minutes before Brian asked her what the furrowed brow was for.  She mentioned my new sparkly bauble on my hand and at that moment, we revealed we were engaged!  I recounted the story for them as we left the restaurant and we hugged them goodbye as they sent us on our way with well wishes and warm fuzzies.  All in all, this date was a sweet treat indeed! 

55. Go Ice Skating

I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess that this will be my most exciting goal accomplished to tell everyone about!

Brian and I regularly do "date nights" so it wasn't at all strange to me that he wanted to take me on a "date day".  He told me very few details about what we were doing, all I knew was that we needed to be somewhere around noon, he wanted me to curl my hair so I looked cute and he wanted me to wear my nice coat "in case we took a pretty walk".  I kindly obliged, grabbed my camera and away we went! 

First up?  A fancy lunch at Three Tomatoes at Fossil Trace Golf Course.  The meal was really good and the mussels that the waiter recommended were super delicious.  We also got to say hi and congratulate our friend Jaime on her recent engagement so it worked as double duty.  During lunch I had been "bugging" Brian about going to try on rings and go shopping for jeans, to which he pretty much blew me off since he had other plans... 

After we were done with lunch, we were off to another spot, another surprise.  As we drove up the hill on I-70, I could see the Mother Cabrini shrine off in the distance and thought for sure that's where our pretty walk was going to be to, especially since we've talked about going to check it out and haven't done it yet.  As we drove past the exit, it was now clear to me that we were going somewhere else.  I kept quiet, though very difficult, as Brian struggled with directions to his surprise location.  Finally, we turned the corner and I saw Evergreen Lakehouse - we were going ice skating!  And then I saw a sign that said "Evergreen Winter Ice Fest"...ummm, not really expecting that in addition to the 300 people that came along with it.  Now normally, I wouldn't care that there were 300 people there, however this was my first time ever ice skating so I was a bit scared/anxious that I wasn't going to be able to do it and be mortified in front of all these people. 

As we walked into the Lakehouse to get our skates, the queue was ridiculously long.  I turned to Brian, with attitude in my voice, and said "Are you sure you want to do this?  Cause I'd really rather be shopping right now".  He talked me into staying and skating, being the voice of reason that he is, and I shortly got over it and decided to seize the moment.  Once the skates were on, I wasn't as nervous...it was sort of like rollerblading, but much harder.  It was really hard to stay upright on the thin little blades and I found myself getting tired pretty quickly.  A few times I wondered how the heck ice skaters do jumps and flips...they've got to be a little crazy and definitely super athletic!  While there, we even ran into one of our neighbors who was also on a date with his girlfriend.  This was the perfect moment to get a picture of us for this blog post...

Picture taken by our neighbor, Alex

By this point, I was getting tired and mentioned it to Brian.  He talked me into taking one more lap around the ice and I once again obliged...it was pretty fun, so why not?!  As we concluded this lap, Brian slipped and fell down.  I legitimately thought this was a real fall, but as it turns out, he was faking.  As I reached down to help him up, he turned towards me, got on one knee and pulled a ring out of his jacket pocket!  I couldn't believe it!!   All I remember saying was "Oh my god, are you serious? Are you serious?" as tears of joy and happiness streamed down my face.  I only vaguely remember what he said to me as the moment felt like time had stopped yet also flew by all at once.  I know he said something along the lines of being his perfect partner in life and would I be his partner forever.  I do know he had to ask me "is that a yes?" as I was in such shock I hadn't answered him.  Haha!  YES!!!  As the people around us ooh'ed and aah'ed and clapped and yelled congratulations, I said to Brian "we need to get a picture!"  He laughed and told me that he had that taken care of...he had planted a professional photographer friend of ours in the crowd who had captured the whole thing!  I was astonished and could not stop smiling! 

After the big proposal, we decided to take some "engagement" photos and spent the better part of the next couple hours kissing, frolicking and playing in the snow while Dave captured the magical happiness of the day.  This "date day" was simply amazing and beyond anything I could have ever imagined!  I am so incredibly blessed to be marrying this man and can't wait to see what future adventures this life has in store for us!

Shea and Brian...Engagement Photo Slideshow

http://vimeo.com/davidlynnphotography courtesy of David Townsend, David Lynn Photography

Now, just when you think this is the end of the "date day" story...it's not.  It keeps going...see next post.    

64. Bake Christmas Cookies

I didn't realize how many of my goals could be accomplished in one holiday weekend, but it makes me feel good to be checking some things off my list, especially as my first year comes near it's end.  As of today, I've "used up" 362 days of 1,001 days, which leaves me with 639 days to finish the goals on this list.  (Is it sick that I've already started my next 101 goals list??) 

Back to the completed goal - Bake Christmas Cookies!  The reason this goal is on my list is not because I've never done it before.  I was lucky enough to have a good friend invite me to her house to make cookies a few years ago and I had so much fun with her, I've been dying to do it again, but make it more of a tradition.  With the sisters, bro-in-laws and nieces in nephews in town for Christmas, I couldn't think of a better time to do it, especially since Santa needed some cookies anyways. 

So we split into 3 teams:
Team Peanut Butter - Ashlee, Casey and Taylor
Team Gingerbread - Niki, Justin and Tate
Team Sugar Cookie - Shea, Brian and Joey

Joey didn't really want to be on our team, but she wisened up when she realized she was going to get to crack the eggs and do more on our team than if she went with her mom and brother.  We all worked pretty hard on mixing our oil and water into our pre-made cookie mix (scratch baking will have to come another year, we don't have the patience for that right now).  When we were done, each team was in charge of their batches going in and out of the oven.  The PB team was the first to get a batch done, followed quickly by team Sugar and then by team Ginger.  We used the sugar cookie and gingerbread dough to make shapes with cookie cutters so the kids could use sprinkles and frosting and really do it up.  They also each made a special cookie for Santa.  It was a lot of fun and it really brought us all a little closer! 

Joey's Cookies

Tate's Cookies

Taylor's Cookies - and she was so excited, this is her way of saying "cheese", haha!

52. Colorado Christmas With the Family

We did it!  We survived a Colorado Christmas with my family.  My sisters, their significant others, my 2 nieces and my nephew were able to join us this Christmas and we had a great time!  Of course we had somewhat of an agenda to make sure that we weren't all bored to death for 4 straight days.  The first day, we went to a place called JumpStreet and we jumped around and got crazy with the kiddos.  It was a lot of fun and we will definitely go back there again! 

Everybody's Jumping Around!

The next day's activity was my niece Taylor's 2 Year Birthday party.  We celebrated by having our neighbors over and chowing down on lasagna and cake.  I luckily had about an hour to myself earlier in the day so I was able to get the house decorated while everyone was last minute shopping and taking naps.  When they all saw the decor, it made it a little more special for them as it was a good surprise for everybody.  We opted to leave the decor up, minus the Happy Birthday signs, for the rest of the weekend. 

On Christmas Eve day, we tried to take it easy and relax a little in anticipation of the Big Guy's arrival that night.  We watched movies and later in the day we made Christmas cookies for Santa.  We separated into 3 teams for cookie making - Team Peanut Butter, Team Gingerbread and Team Sugar Cookie.  That turned out to be a great way to do it as each kid got 2 adults to help them and we all got to be involved.  The cookies turned out pretty yummy but we discovered the best way to eat them was to mix the gingerbread with the sugar cookie and bake together.  We will definitely be making cookies for Santa again!  We opened our presents on Christmas Eve, after an awesome dinner of Indian Tacos (which all of the kids ate faster than any other meal thru the weekend!)  The following morning, the kids opened the presents Santa left for them and away they all went, back to South Dakota.  All in all, it was a great holiday and I hope that we were able to start building our own traditions and that we can keep them alive as we all grow up and grow older. 

Colorado Christmas - Our Family

56. Buy a Sewing Machine

I technically did not accomplish this goal on my own as my wonderfully awesome partner bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas!  He was looking for ideas on what to get me, so I told him to check out my 101 Goals list and see if there was anything on it he could help with.  He picked the one thing that will help me accomplish several other goals.  I was completely surprised when I opened my gift but super excited as I've wanted to start sewing for awhile now.  My first project is going to be curtains for my bedroom which I'm ready to get started on very shortly!  The sky's the limit once I figure out how to work my new Singer 5500.  :)  Wish me luck on this new adventure into sewing-ville! 

8. Start a Business

Well, I managed to do this one without totally stressing myself out and I was going to wait to hit the one year mark before I officially called it a "business", just to make sure it was going to work out.  However, after a very successful holiday season, I am proud to say that ShadyWolfDesigns is officially a profitable business!  Watch for many new designs to come out this year as well as other product lines, like handmade cards, jewelry storage units and possibly some sewn projects (I got a new sewing machine for Christmas that is itching to be used!)  Thank you all for your support and encouragement during the first 11 months of business!  I look forward to continuing to build these strong relationships throughout 2013 and beyond! 

Visit my etsy shop!  www.etsy.com/shop/shadywolfdesigns 

33. Volunteer to work an event

This goal was left very vague intentionally.  I didn't really care what kind of event I volunteered at, I just wanted to do something that helped others and where I could have a little fun while doing it.  Just so happens that my friend Monica's son, Russell, plays basketball for a local high school team and they were doing a fundraiser at Oktoberfest.  Of course, to help the kids, we signed up to work the beer booth.  While there, Brian and I snuck away for a couple fun pictures:

Here's a picture of me participating in the Stein Hoisting competition...that is not a joke! 

 

7. Run a Half Marathon

I really have no idea why I decided to put this goal on my list, or any other running goal actually.  I guess I added it in order to motivate myself to run...as you can guess, it's not really one of my favorite things to do.  But it does keep me fit and active and it's nice to accomplish goals while I'm busy torturing myself. 

I decided to run the Denver Rock n' Roll Half Marathon because it's local and I've heard that it's "fun".  Well, "fun" is definitely a relative word, however it was as enjoyable as running 13.1 miles can be.  I was fortunate enough to talk a few friends into running it with me as well as two more reluctant walkers.  With a band at about every mile helping us along the way, and a random stranger or two cheering you on just when you need it...I am proud to say that we all 5 finished and we all had "fun"!  I made it in 2 hours and 28 minutes, which I'm happy with since my estimated time was 2 hours and 45 minutes.  As for running half marathons, I'm 50/50 on if I'll do another one.  I'm thinking I'll try a 10k....then maybe a 7k...then maybe a 5k...and then decide which race is for me.   

Race numbers, gear, ready to run!

Half of the finishers....will post the pic of all of us as soon as I get a copy :) 

90. Go on the Winter Park Alpine Slide

This goal is actually a part of a larger goal that I've had for awhile - ride all the alpine slides in Colorado.  Prior to this project I rode the slides in Breckenridge, Golden and Steamboat Springs.  There are only 5 slides in Colorado which means I only had 2 left - Winter Park and Durango.  The same day that I had fun mountain biking, we stopped at Winter Park Ski Resort and decided to ride the slide! 

Brian and I on the chairlift, going up the hill to the top of the slide!

At the top, ready to ride

All in all, the Winter Park alpine slide was a lot of fun and it was decidedly the fastest of all the alpine slides I've been on so far!

37. Go Mountain Biking and Like It!

This weekend, Brian and I decided to have a "date day" and cruise up to Winter Park.  We had a coupon to ride the alpine slide for half price (part of another goal of mine) and we figured we'd take the mountain bikes and go for a nice cruise and enjoy the turning leaves. 

Turns out a few of our good friends were up there too, so we joined them for their bike ride and I was successful in accomplishing another goal!  I went mountain biking and I had fun and I liked it!  No tears were shed, no blood was shed and I slept very well that night!  Thanks for the help and encouragement friends! 

No pictures were taken but I figured this map is good enough proof for me!

http://www.strava.com/activities/22075487

14. Organize the office into useable space

I'm just going to use pictures to illustrate this one...not even sure how this happens, but it does!

Before:

After: 

60. Plan VanDeed Field Day #2

When I made my goal list, I knew that I was going to be able to complete this goal.  We had a very successful inaugural VanDeed Field Day, but everybody knows the sophemore album is the hardest one to make a hit!  Luckily, we learned some things from Year 1 that would help us immensely in planning Year 2.  Also, we had a built in theme, thanks to the Summer Olympics being this year and actually "opening" the night before our event. 

This year, the games were held on Saturday, July 28th at Union Ridge Park.  We like Union Ridge as the fields are big and flat and the grass is very well kept - nice to run around barefoot in!  We had just about 60 people participate this year which was a great turnout and gave us some nice rounded out teams or "countries".  After the Opening Ceremonies, we split into teams and "let the games begin!"

We played 7 different games - some previously established and some made-up.  The games we played were: 

100m Dash

Javelin

Shoeput

Fencing "Chicken Style"

Dizzy Steeplechase

Nordic Skiing

Synchronized Spooning

Here are some pics from the games:

Not sure yet if there will be a 3rd year in 2013 or if we'll push it out a year, but this event will definitely happen again!  It is so much fun to hang out with friends new and old and pretend to be kids again!  Big kids, that is.  :)

2. Take a Cooking Class

The hardest part about this goal was picking which class to take since food options are pretty much limitless.  Nonetheless, I had scored a deal with Colorado Free University so I decided to take a class they were offering.  In the end, I chose "Basics of Cooking: Fish" taught by an instructor/chef named Rachel.  It's pretty clear when you look at the menu why THIS is the class to take.  We started with a fish called Bravinza, which the instructor showed us how to stuff with fresh herbs and bake in the over.  She also showed us how to debone a fish which was really cool! 

We followed that with a simple yet extremely delicious Shrimp Curry dish that was accompanied with rice noodles. 

After that we had Fish Tacos marinated with Achiote paste and served with fresh mango salsa and a lime slaw.  We finished with cod fish Po Boy sandwiches which were highlighted with a homemade tarter sauce and served on a french baguette.  A notable comment about this class is that Rachel really did a fine job of picking out quality ingredients to cook with - lots of organic, sustainable foods, which made the class well worth the price.  Matter of fact, I had intended to bring home leftovers but I couldn't help but eat everything up because it was all so fresh and tasted so good! 

I learned a lot about how to make these 4 different dishes and am looking forward to trying the recipes in the very near future!  I would definitely recommend this class to anyone looking to hang out with other cool people that want to learn how to make new foods.  Also, don't forget your wine, as that definitely helps you loosen up and enjoy the experience more!

45. Read 3 Classic Novels - A: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

In order to get some goals knocked out, I decided to start some of these by going simple...read - easy.  I picked my first classic novel, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway because it was only 120 pages long and it looked pretty doable.  Well, it was doable and only took me a couple of sessions to read it.  The book was pretty straightforward and was a really easy read.  I know why I hadn't read it before though - it's definitely aimed more at a male reader than a female.  It is a story about an old fisherman who hooks the big one and can't let him get away, even if it means he will die at sea.  It details the 3-day struggle for him to reel in the fish and his almost-triumphant return home with it.  Sadly for the old man, the sharks end up getting the best of the fish, but I'm glad to say he did make it home and didn't die alone at sea.  The book ends by telling us that the old man caught an 18 foot shark, a beautiful specimen that even the other fishermen were flabbergasted by.  Though the book does a decent job at bringing you full circle, I read the last page and turned it hoping for a little more closure.  Unfortunately, the closure I sought would never be, except within the confines of my own imagination.  The old man just goes to sleep at the end...and that's it.  Would I read it again?  Probably.

32. Eat a Food I've Never Eaten Before - Persimmon

What the heck is a persimmon anyway?  Well, I bought one not really knowing what to do with it and had to google what it was when I got home.  Turns out, a persimmon is a fruit, much like a tomato.  The difference between the two is that a persimmon is slightly sweeter and does not have as many seeds in the middle.  So, what do you do with a persimmon?  I decided to eat it just like a tomato, cutting it into pieces, and I added it to a salad.  It was pretty good, but I don't think I liked it enough to forgo tomatoes altogether.  However, I would like to try it cooked instead of raw next time. 

99. Go to 3 Art Festivals - #1 Denver Chalk Art Festival, June 2, 2012

Every year that I've lived in Denver, I've always wanted to go to the Chalk Arts Festival downtown.  And every year I've not made it there...except this year!  I finally made it there and it was just as fabulous as I thought it would be!  The artists create wonderful images on the streets made from only chalk and their imaginations.  Here are some images that I captured while Brian and I walked around, enjoying our festival date night. 

Our first turn of the block and it's already impressive!  We went on the first afternoon so most of the works were in progress. 

I wish I could have seen these finished.  I have a friend that has some pictures of these all done and they looked fantastic! 

This one made me think of my sister Ashlee.  It was really, really pretty! 

Here are a couple of my favorites:

This one was probably my absolute favorite out of all of them. 

Optical illusion, very cool!

I might have to try this next year.  Or maybe I'll put it on my next 101 list...and just start looking into it for now. 

1. Take a Painting Class

I love art - I love making it, looking at it, being a part of it!  I especially love enhancing my current skill set and it has been a long time since I've taken any sort of art class that allowed me to do that (since college!)  This was a fun goal to accomplish, it not only suits my personality, but I met new people and I got something tangible to walk away with. 

To accomplish the goal of "Take a Painting Class", I bought a Groupon for Colorado Free University.  CFU is a place that offers all kinds of classes and they are very reasonably priced .  I looked at several different types of art classes to take and finally settled on a "Watercolor Batik" class.  I did batik in high school and thought it was cool and my watercolor painting skills can always use some work so it was a good fit for me. 

The class was taught by two old bitty's - one that was pretty nice but managed to convince one of my classmates to do more to her painting and in the process, helped her ruin it.  DOH!  The other lady was not  my favorite person - she was a bit on the crabby side and she thwarted my creativity by making me stop working on my background to do the leaves.  That irked me, but I understand why now, even though I should've just kept doing what I wanted.  :)

Batik is usually done on cloth and involves the process of using wax to cover areas that you don't want painted.  For this class, we batik'd on paper instead of cloth.  It starts out looking like this:

I wanted to keep my calla lillies white, so I put hot wax over them and started painting everything else.  Once I had what I wanted painted, I added another layer of wax before I finished the background (the leaves got covered with wax so I didn't mess up and accidently paint over them). 

Here is a picture with some additional areas covered with wax - you can see the beads of paint on the waxed areas. 

Between each painting session and each waxing session, you have to make sure your picture is fully dry or else the wax won't stick and you'll likely paint some areas that you don't want painted. 

Here is a picture with the entire painting covered in wax. 

The next step after this is to peel your painting off the wax paper and crumple it up.  That will cause some of the wax to fall off.  Then you can add the "crackle" effect by painting over the entire thing with a darker color.  When you are finished with that, you put the painting between several layers of newspaper and iron the wax out of the paper until it appears you have melted it all off onto the newspaper.  The final result is a frameable piece of art!

Here is a picture of me and my painting - I like it.  I put it in my work cubicle to add some color to the otherwise very vanilla walls I have to look at every day.  At some point, I'll likely frame it and give it away to somebody.  With this new skill added to my arsenal, I'm looking forward to having some girlfriends over for a wine and batiking night! 

5. Play a team sport other than volleyball

This goal was another "easy" one.  All I had to do was pick a sport, find a team and participate.  Luckily for me, when I started my new job, I was invited to join a softball team that was starting up.  I've played softball before, the most competitive time was my senior year of high school...but I figured it's just like riding a bike, right?!  Well, almost...it was a lot of fun but I did eat some dirt tonight when my upper body decided it wanted to go faster than my legs could take me.  :D  I totally wiped out and have a few gravel burns to show for it, however I'm glad I was wearing pants and I did hit the ball for good measure!  All I really have now is a bruised ego, haha!  I am looking forward to being a "Honeybadger that doesn't care" and having a fun season of softball with some really cool co-workers and friends! 

Here is a picture of most of our team:

 

43. Hike to a Waterfall

While in Costa Rica, I hiked down to the La Fortuna Waterfall.  This is the first time I've ever hiked down to reach a waterfall, usually you have to hike up the mountain to get there.  This waterfall was different from the others I've been to...it was a tropical waterfall and  was one long stream of water.  It was beautiful and I found peace in the moments that I got to enjoy it.