Settling In

For the Labor Day weekend, J and I did our first officially "outdoorsy" thing. We camped! At Green Mountain Reservoir in White River National Forest. Friends invited us on their camping trip, and we tagged along. No reservation necessary, just show up, pick your spot, and set up shop. As you can imagine, camping is camping, and the most extraordinary parts were the clear night sky and the views...

View from our tent.

 

A police officer drove by and told us we weren't allowed to pitch our tent "on the beach." It was obvious he realized the ridiculousness of his request, and didn't make us move. The reservoir water level was pretty low, as you can see.

Glorious mud... The dogs had a blast.

Sunny had free reign and was pretty much in dog heaven.

It rained on us, and we quickly discovered that our tent was not water proof. We covered it with a tarp, crawled inside, and kept on drinking. ; ) It was an adventure. That night, J and I sat by the fire and stared at the stars until our necks hurt. That evening's sky's only rival is the view from Mom's backyard. It reminded me of home.

 

This week, we also did our SECOND and THIRD outdoorsy things. We got geared up for ski season, and we bought a pack of lift tickets. Copper Mountain - here we come!

We wrapped up the week yesterday with the Tour de Fat festival at City Park, in which a bunch of people get dressed up, have a beer or 2, get on their bicycles, and go on a parade through the neighborhood. The parade was followed by a festival, put on by New Belgium Brewery. The theme of the day was butt cheeks, and it felt like Halloween in September. We saw a dude dressed in nothing but body paint and a thong. We saw a lady dressed in nothing but nipple tassels and a kilt. Hello, Denver! I was wearing a Hokie shirt, and a lady from JMU approached me and introduced herself. She said, "Welcome to Colorado, this is what it's all about!" Works for us!!

How could I forget about dinner last night? Holy pizza. It tasted as good as it looks, and it will be our breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least the next two days.

Day 60

That's right. J and I have been officially unemployed for 60 days.

How does it feel?, you may wonder. That would be so nice., you may think.

Contrary to what I thought at Day 1, the time has not been all relaxation. Most of the time when I otherwise should have been "relaxing," I usually felt a sense of anxiety. Not at first, but gradually as the days went on, there was a definite sense that I should be doing something.

Some people are great at keeping themselves busy... One lesson this 60 days has taught me is that I am not (great at keeping myself busy). By busy, I mean productive. Sure, I finished about 7, 8, 9 seasons of various TV shows (who's counting?). Sure, I got to know our neighborhood parks, grocery stores, and thrift shops. Sure, I made delicious meals from Gwyneth's new book. Other than those tiddlywinks, I was pretty much idle.

I did find a great lamp at a thrift store... $10! The column is Dresden crystal, from West Germany. I don't think it's anything super rare or expensive, but I thought the crystal was beautiful. I can't find much information about it. We have mostly "silver"/stainless steel hardware in our house, so I'm thinking of getting a new base and "lamp kit" to match. What do you guys think? Currently, the hardware is brass. I lifted this picture off Etsy, and mine didn't come with a lampshade. Also taking suggestions on that!

So anyway - back to what I was saying. The point I was trying to get at is that two months off may sounds verrry appealing, but all in all, unless you have some major vacation planned - two months off is a LOT of time to do nothing. And starting tomorrow - my nothing time is o-v-e-r. I start my job!

I am taking the bus in - yea public transportation! I will have a full day of introductions and training and security badge pictures. A wonderful end to my last two months of nothing.

I'll remind myself to read this post when I'm about six months into it, during month- or quarter- or whatever-end close - slaving away over a sub-ledger on a Saturday at 4:00pm.

Wish me luck!