System Status: September 2013

As I write this, it’s an awesome, crisp 57°F outside and the leaves are just barely starting to start their fall fashion show. After this month’s epic flooding here in Colorado, I think we’re set on moisture for a while (fortunately, we live in the tiny, protective bubble in the part of Denver that somehow managed to not be flooded – I am thankful). Now we just need to get rid of these 80° days and I’ll be content.

In other news, I turned 33 last week. This is the first year in a while that I somehow managed to not get my hopes to completely, insanely, unreasonable levels up in terms of expectations of “the day” and it was the first year in a while that I actually didn’t mind the quietness. E got me a spa gift card back at Christmas that I still hadn’t used, so I spent the morning being spa’d and evening was coffee with my one of my oldest friends and sister-in-law, Adrienne. Here’s hoping 34 is a good one. 🙂

In the end of September I am….

…reading Zoia’s Gold. Art history + mystery usually (usually – there have been some GIGANTIC flops) = success for me, and this one is good so far. I think a lot of authors are trying to recreate the DaVinci Code success by adding intrigue to otherwise mundane and overly-studied historical art ephemera. This one isn’t quite like Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series (no car chases, evil popes, or 500-year-old Rubik’s cubes so far and, in fact, the main subjects are completely made up), but for some reason I always equate these types of books with that line. Entertaining (albeit inaccurate in some cases) either way. 🙂

…watching football, new TV shows this week, and some good movie releases. We rented Star Trek Into Darkness a few weeks ago because we’re sci-fi dorks and enjoy that sort of thing (do you really have to be a sci-fi dork to enjoy Star Trek anymore? if the answer is yes, don’t answer). Sherlock as Khan was weird as I’m used to Ricardo Montalban’s fake chest filling the role, but Benedict Cumberbatch is a fantastic actor and the whole series is different under J.J. Abrams, so it works. To continue the sci-fi dorkage, Iron Man 3 comes out this week as well. 🙂

…loving short day-trips. I’ve lived in Colorado for seventeen years, most of that time in the Denver area, and I’ve never made the short drive up Mount Evans until this last weekend (where I took the above photo) when E decided to take me up for my birthday. I think from now on when we take out-of-town guests on a mountain drive, we’ll skip trail ridge road in favor of this one as it’s just as scenic, MUCH closer, a lot cheaper, and less crowded. We took B to Georgetown to ride the train back in August which also only took a few hours of our day. I think we need to tap into stuff like this more often.

…eating the Cardamon Spiced Grain-Free Granola from Healthy Snacks To Go (B calls it “granilla”). I left out the sunflower/pumpkin seeds (we’re not fans of either) and the raisins because it was good all by itself and didn’t need either. I can easily see this making a tasty cereal.

…looking forward to our anniversary in November. This will be nine years for us, which isn’t a milestone anniversary, but I think we’re both really wanting to do something special. We’ve been in savings mode this year, trying to build a little nest egg for a down payment on a new house next year, so we didn’t take a vacation. We’ve both gotten to the point, though, where we know we need it so we’re using our anniversary as an excuse to do just that.

How was your September?

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