spring pics

here are some spring pictures that make me happy.

outside of my building at work

otis catching some rays

a tree in my backyard blossoming

denali helping me blog ;)

treadmill 10min
dance jam 60min

the news of change

via*

last thursday qwest announced it is merging with a company called centruylink out of monroe, LA. to be honest when you work for such a big company in such an economic time like today rumors are constantly being whispered about big change. question is: big change good, or big change bad? plus all the changes qwest has made in the last 12 months. looking back at it all, this all is starting to make a little bit of sense. which is good. we have been trying to become "attractive" to a potential buyer for quite sometime. even way back in december 2005 when we sold the downtown qwest building i was working in and our whole center was moved to work in a qwest building in littleton. and then a few months ago they announced that we are moving buildings because the building we are currently in is being leased and "they" want us to use the space we already have in buildings we already own. ...makes sense to use something that we are buying, rather than a space we are renting.
onto the more important stuff. where does this leave me? well it's strange because now that the announcement has been made and a few days have passed, everything has gone back to pretty much normal. nothing truly official with the merger will happen until early next year, and they say it won't be finalized until June 2011. until then they say to act as if each company is independent of itself, and well that's because technically as of right now today we still are two separate companies.
everyone in my work group seems to be optimistic and looking at this change as a good thing. the organization that i work for within qwest is called the Business Markets Group (BMG), and part of that channel is the Qwest Business Partner Program (QBPP) which is the group i specifically work for. word is that CenturyLink (used to be CenturyTel) has a very small Business Group and that our big BMG group really attracted them to us. not to brag, but BMG is the only group within Qwest that has brought actually earnings for the past 4 quarters! meaning, we bring in the money. not only that, but the money that we bring is a profit. the VP of BMG has already been named president of what will be the BMG group of the new company, or something like that. he has stated numerous times that the headquarters of our group will remain in denver and that he is NOT moving to monroe. all of which seems promising. all of this definitely makes the change of last august seem clear. it is scary, because i have lots of questions and it will probably be a year before i get my answers and all i can do is look at this change as a positive thing because that is what everyone around me is viewing it as.
my boss stated it very well by saying that where we (qwest) is weak, centurylink is strong, and where centurylink is weak we are strong. with the combination of two it will be very flattering. i hope and pray that i will be part of it! so as of right now no news on my job. seeing as the new company doesn't have a big business group and a very small partner program i like to think that i am safe. for right now all i can do is continue what it is that i do, which is my job, and continue to do a good job.
as for that big blue qwest sign that's a big part of the denver sky line? ...i'm pretty sure that'll be going away, which is kinda sad. hopefully bigger, better, brighter things will follow.

zumba 60min

question of the week:

via*

emily recently posted about her intake of water, and it got me thinking.

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what drink did you grow up on?

...you know, the one drink that was always in your house growing up? for me it was diet coke. to this day my parents always have diet coke on hand.
but now that i'm all grown up all i drink is water. i will sometimes buy an occasional gatorade for when i'm sick, and sometimes orange juice, but other than that it is only water. i did go through an iced tea stage, but not anymore.

here's another question:
what do you prefer; a fountain drink, or a non-fountain drink?

growing up when my mother and i would go through the drive thru at fast food places, my mom never got the combo meals. she had no need to buy the drink included, because we always had the drinks at home. so it saved a little bit of money. because of that, i don't get the whole "fountain drink" thing. to me, when it comes from the fountain it doesn't taste any better, in fact i think it tastes worse. people who have to have their fountain drink are just wasting money in my opinion. granted it is only a dollar(or whatever), but such a waste.
and now for the most part when i do go to a drive thru i rarely get the drink. and if i do get the drink i get either bottled water or a shake.

and since we are on the subject:
what do you call coke? pop, soda, coke?

i call everything coke. i'm pretty sure this a regional thing. if i did drink coke, it would be pepsi. and on the rare occasion when i do crave a caffeinated drink it is pepsi, but not from the fountain!

elliptical 45min
treadmill 25min

loving this...

this song recently caught my eye. i love it. i've decided it is my new mantra!

Haven't Met You Yet
written and sung by Michael Buble

I'm not surprised, not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times, I stopped keeping track
Talk myself in, I talk myself out
I get all worked up, then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility

And I know someday that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

I might have to wait, I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life

And I know that we can be so amazing
And, baby, your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

And somehow I know that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair
In love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and we'll be united

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get
Than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh, you know it'll all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get
Yeah, I just haven't met you yet

I just haven't met you yet
Oh, promise you, kid
To give so much more than I get

I said love, love, love, love
Love, love, love, love
(I just haven't met you yet)
Love, love, love, love
Love, love
I just haven't met you yet

my favorite part in green :)

STRIKE! 60min

week 4: this just might work

i'm feeling optimistic. this week was a successful one. slowly i'm starting to think that i can do this, that this is working. that my body isn't playing a mind trick on me because it knows i paid all of this money to lose weight and it's just flattering me for a while. granted i'm still very new to this whole process but i still have a sense of shock over the whole thing.
i worked out so hard for such a long period of time and got minimal results, that to be honest i was sorta hoping something would be wrong with me. that for some medical reason i wasn't able to lose the weight. because surely i can't be eating that much crap to result in a 10 pound weight loss over a 6 month period. well truth be told, i was eating that much crap. but that crap is goooood! it is something i will always have to manage.
even now.
the weekends are the hardest. my weekends are spent alone, my weekends are the times i allowed myself to go out to eat. i'm trying to find a good combination of moderation so that i don't go crazy. i'll find out on monday if it worked. i truly believe that it is my workouts that help to balance everything when i do find myself cheating.
it feels so good to see the number on the scale reflect my work. in addition to getting some recognition for my work. i've had someone different everyday this week tell me i look great. i have to say that it means a lot, especially from people at the gym. because they are the ones who see me there, all the time. they may not know me, but to have them tell me i look good and that they see a difference is such a great feeling. granted this isn't the first time that something like this has happened, but for me it feels like the first time because i can see the difference too. i can see the difference physically and on the scale!
let the journey continue!

elliptical 35min
treadmill 16min
-6lbs

my backyard: part two

for your viewing pleasure here are the pictures taken from nikki's camera during her visit!

i had to take nikki to a grande finale for a pre-hike snack

"nikki and april were here"

along our hike were these beautiful bushes with a blue twilight glow to them.
with the contrast of the orange, i thought it was very pretty.

we're pretty close!

as nikki says: "april likes signs." it's true.

these pics are at bear lake.
hard to believe that behind us is a huge lake.
nikki being so cute, as usual!

i told you there was a lot of snow!

treadmill 33min
dance jam 60min
arms/back

all kinds of crazy

this is what a hot chocolate
looks like at snooze!

********

more big change is coming.

********

it rained like crazy last night.
and now i have dried out
dead worms all over my garage.
gross.

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today was a curly hair day.

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my summer trip is
booked!

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the united states postal service
is not my friend.

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my lottery ticket
was not a winner.

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i wrote a whole big book review on
"when crickets cry" by Charles Martin
but i lost it.
so i'll just say this:
read it.

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i forgot to shut my blinds
last night.
but it was ok because i now have brown curtains.

STRIKE! 60min

lovely day

i feel so good. today is professional administrative day. my boss walked into the office this morning with huge beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card. such a surprise, much like last year! they are gorgeous.

here are the other things i got on professional administrative day:

a powerball lottery ticket
a tall skinny vanilla latte
a gift card to the macaroni grill

am i lucky or what?

treadmill 20min
zumba 60min

i have my very own mittens!

have i mentioned my cousin nikki lately?!
how about how uber talented she is?!
so talented that she created a mitten pattern all by herself! how wicked awesome is that!?
even more wicked awesome is that she named them after me!
nikki surprised me with these right when we got into my car when i picked her up from the airport. they are fabulous and i love them. the fit is amazing and they will be great to wear next winter with my neckwarmer!

elliptical 45min
treadmill 15min

my backyard: part one

last friday 4/9 nikki and i went on my first real hike in colorado. this is something i've pretty much wanted to do since i moved here almost 8 years ago. i can finally check this off of my "to-do" list! it was so much fun. we drove through boulder and estes park on our way to rocky mountain national park. during the drive up i said "this is my backyard. i live here, and i have never taken advantage of it."


these are (above and below) pictures taken on our way up to our hike. we took a scenic route so we could some more of the park. one the drive we ran into a handful of elk! they were right there, just crossing the street. i freaked out, telling nikki to take pictures, while nikki was the calm one telling me to stop screaming so i don't scare them off or have them attack my car! ...neither happened, the rest eventually just followed on to the other side down the hill.

view from the hike - below is estes park, with lake estes

we had decided to take an "easy" hike, but since i had never been to the park before i didn't know my way around. nikki and i had decided on "easy" because the night before we had gone to STRIKE! and thought we would play it safe. we stopped at the first visitor's center at the park, and a woman recommended we do the lumpy ridge trail head to gem lake. this hike was 3.2 miles (round trip) starting elevation at 7,840 feet, and after the fact we find out that this hike is considered "moderate", with a 1000 foot elevation gain.
the hike was amazing. it's amazing that this whole big wide world is what God has created for us to enjoy. and that very rarely do people truly enjoy it, including myself. to be out in the open, fresh, air was beautiful. hiking with nikki, talking about anything and everything was something i will forever cherish.

nikki at the top! we made it, sorta.

so once we got to the "top" it was super snow packed and went up at a pretty steep incline. we think that gem lake is just up the steep incline of snow, but we decided to opt out of that. so unfortunately we didn't get to see what would have been a frozen over lake, but we definitely tried!

the view from one of the top look out points

unfortunately right after i took this last photo my camera died. once i get nikki's photos i'll do another post to show the rest of the pics. after the hike down we drove to bear lake. and the photo's of this are amazing! bear lake is at 9,475feet, so the 500 foot walk to the frozen lake was heavily snow packed with about 3 feet of snow! nikki's shoes were basically rubber on the bottom, and she had a couple of close calls of falling!, and honestly so did it. but we made it out with both feet standing the whole time!

STRIKE! 60min

week 3: just keep swimming

i realize i haven't updated on my progress lately and honestly that's because i had nothing to update on. i fell off of the plan, with shaun's visit, and was stressing about nikki's visit. but now i have come full circle and now on a positive track, so like dory from finding nemo i'm going to keep on swimming.
having 2 meals and drinks with shaun ultimately caused me to gain back almost all of the weight i had lost when i first started. when i checked in at the slimgenics office a few days prior to nikki's arrival i let them know how i was struggling and my fears for when my cousin was in town. nikki herself is a very healthy individual and i knew she would support me and the plan, my big fear was the length of her visit, and knowing that i would eventually give into temptations. so they advised me to just relax with my cousin in town, enjoy her company and start mentally preparing for going back on plan when she left. so that's what i did. i didn't go too crazy with food while nikki was here, we did lots of working out, including my first major hike! but lately i've just been feeling heavy. not good. on tuesday i started getting sick. my legs were really really sore (not too sure what from) tuesday and wednesday. when i woke up wednesday i felt horrible. i'm pretty sure i had a mild fever, i had horrible body aches, it hurt to swallow, and i was exhausted. but i had to go to work since i had the last 4 workdays off. so i went in, i left a little bit early, didn't workout, and went to bed at 8:30pm. that helped a little, but even today i have a sore throat, and i don't feel 100%, which is why i've been doing my "easy" workouts. just some cardio on the elliptical. today however i decided to do some time on the treadmill, and for the first time ever i jogged for a solid 6 minutes. it felt great! i hope to do STRIKE! tomorrow, and see what that makes me feel since that's my hardest workout. i just want to get back to my regular workouts and feeling 100%.
today after my workout i went into slimgenics to help motivate me to get back on plan starting tomorrow, and not only have i lost everything i gained while shaun was here, but i'm down an additional pound!!! which definitely helps with my confidence.
i now know the details of this plan, i've done this plan, and i've seen that it can work. but i'm breaking all food habits that i know. food is my addiction. slimgenics is my rehab. and like most people with an addiction they don't stop cold turkey. they have mix-ups. this was my mix up. i'm taking it one day at a time, then once i'm comfortable with that i'll go to one week at a time. once i'm good with that i'll go to one month at time. hopefully by the time that comes, my time will be done. because this is hard. i keep telling myself this is 6 months out of my life. that is nothing. nothing. i can do this. i will do this. thankfully i've found some very motivational blogs that i hope will keep me on track. i've gotten exactly what it is that i've asked for. i asked someone to supply me with the knowledge of what to eat. to tell me exactly what to put into my mouth. i've paid a lot of money for this knowledge and their help, but it is up to me. i'm the one 100% responsible for what it is that goes into my mouth. and i'm scared. i'm scared out of my mind, and i'll write more about that later.
so i messed up, but i've made up for it, and i'm ready to start again. i'm going to just keep swimming.

elliptical 45min
treadmill 15min
-1lb

a night out on the town

saturday was a more relaxed day with nikki. we spent the morning doing some cardio at the gym then took our time getting ready. nikki had yet to see any of the twilight movies, so she started watching "twilight" while i got ready.
our first stop that afternoon was hammond's candy factory. it's exactly what you imagine an old classic candy factory would be. we took the free tour, and saw some workers make candy canes! all of the candy is made by hand, and it is a beautiful process! i'm not much of a hard candy type of gal, but i did try some of the english toffee, and it was delish!

that night we had dinner reservations downtown at marco's coal fired pizza. downtown had a huge buzz saturday night, with the rockies playing and the nuggets. we were downtown to go to a nuggets game, and while planning nikki's trip i realized it was a perfect time for sports lovers in denver. had we been big sports fans and had all the money to spend, we could have gone to a rockies game, a nuggets game, and an avalanche game all last weekend! we decided on the nuggets as they are having a really good season.

carmelo shoots and scores in a sea of spurs!

the nuggets dancers!

we capped off our night at the market to have some very yummy dessert!
spring fling cake and carrot cake outside on a cool denver night with nikki was perfect!

elliptical 45min

bedroom redo: part one

i've officially graduated. the time for change has come. i closed on my house april 20, 2006 almost 4 years. while nikki was here i put her to work! we spent sunday painting my bedroom! i wanted something darker, as my window faces east so the sun wakes me up in the morning. i knew i wanted to do blue and brown, and that the brown would be on my "accent" wall, which is the wall with my window. i decided to go with the same duvet cover but in the blue/brown colors. i got some new window curtains and paint. this project isn't yet done, as i still need to do a lot of the decorating. my walls are still pretty bare as i try to decide what to put up. the room is a little bit too dark so i'm hoping to find a way to brighten it up a little. i do want it darker, i just think it is going to take sometime to get used to, as it was so bright before.

before

prepping for a fun filled afternoon of painting!

i've never had so much fun painting in my life. there were multiple times that nikki and i would crack up in silent giggles while we were laughing so hard we made no sound at all. i had stomach aches and had to use the restroom since i almost peed my paints i was laughing so hard. the room took us 5 hours to paint, and during the whole time our conversation was pretty much the same. of "oops" "paint doesn't go there" "hand me the rag" "are you having fun yet?" it truly was so much fun. this memory with nikki will truly stay near and dear to my heart!

thank you SO much nikki for all your help and fabulous company!

after - 2 blue walls DONE!

more after pictures - the room is officially done with paint except for some touch ups.

the room with the new duvet. it helps to bring it all together.
i really like it.
the naked walls i don't like.
any suggestions?

elliptical 45min