'Tis the Season

I think I've mentioned before — I'm not a big decorator, shopper, baker or dresser-uper, which makes me bad at almost all things holiday. This year, short of bobbing for apples, I made a concerted effort for Halloween. We carved pumpkins for the first time since the kids were born, baked pumpkin pies, roasted pumpkin seeds, and I decorated the front porch with a spooky skeleton and spider web. I even got a temporary tattoo of a black widow spider crawling up my neck. Awesome.

Halloween this year was a weekend-long event, starting with a costume party at school on Thursday and continuing Friday with trick-or-treating at businesses in downtown Granby, followed by a big insane bash at the elementary school. The kids headed over the pass to Evergreen for the rest of the weekend with their dad while I headed out with Brussels Sprouts and his little cabbage for an evening of trick-or-treating along the main strip in Winter Park, followed by a delicious meal at the local Indian restaurant.

About that guy

So after three months, my Brussels Sprouts guy is still kind of a secret. My kids are getting to know him and he's got a plane ticket to meet the family before Christmas. But we are keeping it on the DL around town ... primarily because it's a small town and, if you've ever lived in a small town, you know, that's all I really need to say about that.

Here's some things I like about Brussel Sprouts:
  1. He took AP French in high school. (He studied Russian and Spanish too.)
  2. He plays the guitar and sings with abandon.
  3. He remembers almost every number he sees (like my license plate number and phone numbers he's dialed one time.)
  4. He's a Yankee but roots for the Cowboys.
  5. He drives 4 hours round-trip to Denver twice a week to see his 18-month old daughter.
  6. He plays Scrabble with me (and sometimes even wins.)
  7. He can hang out with me all day and then still want to talk to me on the phone for hours at night.
  8. He baked an apple pie the other day. Just because.
  9. He plays house with my kids. They make him be the kid. He's good at it.
10. His eyes, and heart, are full of kindness.

Snow day

Snow day, a set on Flickr.

We had our first snowfall of the year in town today. Kids played in the snow and then we hit the coffee shop for hot drinks.

RMNP

RMNP, a set on Flickr.

Took a beautiful autumn drive through Rocky Mountain National Park.

Smiling on me

In the past two months: I started a great new part-time public affairs job at the forest service; sold my house in Virginia in a bidding war (miracle of all miracles during a housing bust); finally got divorced a year after being separated; met a great, single dad who plays scrabble and cooks Brussels sprouts; had my new part-time job bumped up to almost full-time so that I could quit my job at the paper (bye bye two night meetings per week) and then had an old editor call to offer me freelance work. I feel like the universe has been smiling on me lately.



I've had the opportunity to take a few trips lately too. I went to Bethany Beach with my family, and have taken weekend trips to Colorado wine and peach country (Palisade) where you can ride bikes between vineyards, camping with the kids near Garden of the Gods and up to the top of 14,000-foot Pikes Peak on the cog (train) and then a weekend to OktoberWest and Strawberry Hot Springs in Steamboat. To tell it straight, I guess I'm kind of glowing (and I've been told that more than once lately.)

Considering that at this same time one year ago I had just gotten separated, had almost every utility/phone in my house cut off and wasn't sure how I was going to buy groceries ... well, I can't believe the difference a year makes. It's been nutty, and I've dealt with a lot of things that I wouldn't wish on anybody. But, life is what you make of it (pardon the cliché). I never have believed more than I do now in the power of thought ... especially the positive sort (again, pardon the cliché). Even if everyone around me worried I was being naive, I wouldn't let myself get down. There was no room to fall apart. I have kids. I had to get up in the morning. I had to move on.

I believe in karma. It just helps now that I'm living with my own and not somebody else's.

Here's hoping the universe keeps smiling on me.