Travellin' On...

I'm Back

2009-03-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

It's been forever- I will admit- I am the world's worst blogger.

Quick update on my life:

-I'm back in Colorado- no more London life for me - Happy about that :)

-Lost 40 lbs since January- yay me!

-Having a quarter life crisis- Deciding what I'm going to do next

Self Improvement Goals this year

-Reach my goal weight- almost there!
-Read More - a little each day
-Write more - Songwriting - Play guitar every day
-Learn Viola (week 10 of lessons!)
- Get back in the dating scene- online dating has been painful - where have all the normal people gone?!

That's it for now - I'll be back soon!

Pictures from Bath...

2008-09-06T09:09:00.001-07:00

A day in the life

2008-09-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

So here is a typical day...

Wake up to the sound of construction, sirens, laughter outside our open windows

After getting ready for work, walking down the busy streets, trying not to get hit by black taxi cabs or buses.

Walking to the bus stop that will take us to our office in Farringdon, random people shoving newspapers at you.

Coping with he rain, trying not to slip :again: on the wet ground, the wind is so strong that your umbrella blows inside out!

Getting on the 38 bus toward Clapton Pond. $6 Starbucks in hand, clutching the railing, watching for our stop, "Mount Pleasant".

::in the office with a bunch of crazy fun brits for 8 hours::

Go out to a pub, drinking cider on ice, meeting new people (even cute guys), coming home, talking to US people 7 hours behind us, going to sleep, waking up

REPEAT AS NEEDED

Life in London: The Early Months.

2008-08-25T03:41:00.001-07:00

New country....
New people...
New culture...

**Time for a new blog**

I've been in London for a little over a week now and loving it. We live in a rather large flat in the centre of the city, next to Oxford street (shopping mecca), Charlotte Street (advertising mecca), and Covent Garden (everything else mecca). Yesterday Nela (my roomate) and I walked all the way to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, passing by the London Eye and Trafalgar Square. The scenery here is amazing. Everything is a piece of history and hardly anything is younger than 100 years old.

Everything is also expensive. A nice work shirt will run you at least 35 quid (or $70 USD) and eating/drinking out is almost pointless.(you can easily spend $40 on a mediocre lunch!) Luckily, we are about 2 blocks from the local grocery store, Sainsbury., which is convenient.

We're starting to pick up on all the phraseology here. You know the popular ones like "Mind the gap" and "Cheers" but have you heard of things like "You awight' son" or "Nackered (tired/beat"? I'm still getting used to the way people talk over here. Both Nela and I agree that the accent can be overwhelming at times. It almost sounds too intentional at times, although we're the ones with the accents around here.

Our first weekend here we went to Bath, which is a "very English" country town about 2 hours away from London. It was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Alex's Dad put us up in a very proper old mansion (called a country park) in Lucknam Park. You looked outside and it was English gardens and equestrian riding, not to mention CRICKET! Oh by the way, Alex is my client. He is a 25 year old lad with perfectly spiked blonde hair and he's oh so charming and stylish. His dad owns an offline advertising agency in Bath that feeds a lot of our online campaign base. That night we went out with Alex and the gang where the guy to girl ratio was about 7:1 (not too shabby).

On Saturday we went to a proper English BBQ with Alex and a few of his friends. That was fun. I found out our boss is trying to get us to meet a few Brits here, fall madly in love and never come back to the States (not likely, but I guess you never know, HAHA)

Today is a bank holiday and no one in the UK has to work which is awesome. I'll leave this blog unfinished for now, but I'll come back and add to it later.

Cheers!

My New Guitar

2008-07-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Isn't it a beauty?

note* This isn't my actual one shown in the picture but looks just like it.
:)

BIG NEWS

2008-07-08T18:51:00.001-07:00

I'm moving to London soon!

A good song

2008-07-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Title: Chicago
Album: Illinois

I fell in love again
all things go, all things go
drove to Chicago
all things know, all things know
we sold our clothes to the state
I don't mind, I don't mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

I drove to New York
in a van, with my friend
we slept in parking lots
I don't mind, I don't mind
I was in love with the place
in my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

if I was crying
in the van, with my friend
it was for freedom
from myself and from the land
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
(I made a lot of mistakes)
all things know, all things know
(I made a lot of mistakes)
you had to find it
(I made a lot of mistakes)
all things go, all things go
(I made a lot of mistakes)

2008-06-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

My family is flying in tomorrow morning so that's exciting! I'll be frantically cleaning my house at like 5am I'm sure (don't you love procrastinating?)

Richard is in Chicago getting his house ready to sell so I won't have to worry about any interrogations from my parents or him asking them any embarrassing questions for now, whew! He should be back in a few weeks he said. I hooked him up with a few more interviews with online companies in Denver. We'll see what happens I guess. He called me yesterday at work 2 times, so I finally decided to take a break from work and call him back. I just went outside (beautiful sunny day btw) and we talked for a good 20 minutes until my phone died, good times. Something about him is very familiar and it's kind of comforting in a way. I like that he calls me every few days. I was a little scared that he wouldn't come back from there at first, he's such a free spirit, but I am a little more at peace with it now. He told me he doesn't like it there and that's why he moved, so I think it's safe to say he'll be back. Either way, I have fun with him...

2008-06-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

I hear you calling me by name
You come around the corner smiling again
And I know you're feeling better

And so the sun might turn to rain
The clouds will come together over us again
And they will soak us to our bone

Comfort our thoughts when we're feeling down
Say what we need until we come around
As a matter of fact
As a matter of these times
When we're all feeling
It's getting hard to breathe in this life

I'm going back now to the time
When we sat out all night and looked to the sky
And dreamed it would be our escape

And so that night did turn to day
The sun so bright and warm would make its way inside of me
Send a shiver through my bone

Comfort my thoughts when I'm feeling down
Say what I need until I come around
It's the matter of fact that
A matter of these times
When we're all feeling
It's getting hard to breathe in this life

I don't know what I'm doing now
I don't know what I'm doing now
I make myself so sick inside my bones

Comfort my thoughts when I'm feeling down
Say what I need until I come around
You're the matter of fact that
A matter of these times
When we're all feeling
It's getting hard to breathe in this life

-Denison Witmer

Monday, Monday

2008-06-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Monday's are always so hectic at work and today was no exception. This weekend flew by quicker than normal too which was no fun. I was shopping all day on Saturday for Anna's Baby shower on Sunday. We had it in this mountain house on Lee Hill Road and it was absolutely spectacular. We saw a bunch of baby deer running all around, and there was a great view of the flat irons. Anna got a bunch of great baby gifts and all of the clothes were so tiny and perfect. Her mom even flew here from Chicago for the shower! She's ready to pop any day now. I think she's narrowed it down to 4 names. No matter what the first name is the middle one has to Be David because that's the tradition in Dave's fam. So the possible choices for 1st names are 1. Noah 2. Samuel 3. Henry 4. Dash. Oh and their last name is Story, haha.

Rich drove to New Mexico for the weekend, I guess just because. He said it took 12 hours to get to Taos which is a huge mountain resort town/indian reservation. He's supposedly posting a lot of pictures soon.

My family is coming here next week for 5 days! Should be fun. Just Mom Dad and Mike I think. I'm trying to think of stuff to do. I think we'll definitely have to go white water rafting, I've been waiting to do that myself!

I'm getting sleepy so I'll go now, just trying to blog a little every day.

2008-06-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Rich and I are still hanging out. We went guitar shopping last weekend, which was fun. He told me I was rockin' out the 12 string, lol. I can't wait to actually purchase one of those babies. I could get a really good deal on a Taylor so I'm thinkin' about it.

No DTR talk yet but I think he slipped and called me SWEETIE the other day, I still don't know why but I thought it was pretty funny. He calls me pretty much daily which is nice, especially because when we first met he said he didn't like to talk on the phone.

Also he's interviewing at some firms in Boulder and the surrounding areas so he might be moving a little closer eventually which could be fun! (right now he's like an hour and half away)

That's it for now. Might hang out with him this weekend but I have a baby shower and some other plans so who knows. Hope things are good with you girls.

Arikka

2008-06-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

A New Boy

2008-06-08T21:33:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'll let my girly ambitions take over for just one post! What do you girls think of this one?

His name is Richard (or Rich). He's 28, originally from Pennsylvania, then Chicago. He lived in Mexico for a year working at an orphanage, he's a Christian, and just recently moved to Ft. Collins Colorado about a month ago (because he ran out of gas on the way back from Mexico!)

He's a mechanical engineer at his new job. He's very outdoorsy, loves bluegrass and his dog, Lucy. The first time we hung out we watched about 4 movies in one sitting and played guitars. Our dogs got along really well too. We've been hanging out a little here and there. Who knows what will come of it, but I really like him so far and I'm having fun getting to know him! I'll post more if/ when there are any updates. Here are some pictures I stole from his Facebook. Enjoy!

2008-06-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I know it's been FOREVER since I've last blogged, but in my defense, it has been pretty much the most action packed time in my life!

In the last 3 months:

1. I have been to Australia
2 Been to San Francisco, Las Vegas, and London
3 Met a boy

The last thing about meeting a boy, the verdict is still out on (just met him last week) but it could be promising :)

The battery in my camera died so its going to be a while before I can post any pictures but you can definitely check a few of my mobile uploads out on facebook.

I love my job, I get to travel all kinds of fun places and meet all kinds of cool and foreign people. In fact we have 2 UK companies coming to visit us in Colorado this week and next week and I'm absolutely stoked to be able to show them around.

In August, our company is the platinum sponsor for Affiliate Summit East in Boston so I can't wait for that!

I've made a lot of great friendships with people at my work, we've made plans to go to outdoor concerts (like Red Rocks!), camping, karaoke, piano bars, etc.!

I love that I ran into an old friend from back home, Tarah and her Husband Landon who have been wonderful friends to me since I've been here:)

That pretty much sums up the last 3 months in my life no matter how sporatic and random, I just had to get it out. I'll try to start updating this thing more often.

Hope everyone is well!

A

It snowed today...

2008-02-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

I want to join a local band as a backup singer. How much fun would that be?!?

that's my mission this month.

I'm having fun here, it snowed buckets of powdery white today...

Some pictures of my new couch and lanterns -I'm Not even close to being done with decorating but here's a sneak peak!

2008-01-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

I'm here! I'm a Boulderite!

2008-01-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

Watch "Juno" Movie

Hi all! Sorry I've been slackin' on this. Things have just been so hectic lately that I haven't had the chance to write.

So my mom and I drove up right before new years. It only took us about 2 full days and we drove all the way to Kansas City before we stopped in a hotel to sleep. It was crazy! Driving through Kansas was the most boring 11 hours ever, nothing but rolling hills and farm houses - I did see signs for the Oz Museum though! Bailey was a trooper the whole time, all he did was sleep! As soon as the car started moving he would zonk out!

When we got to my place we decided to drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park so my mom could see some big mountains. It was SOOO cold that day, only 5 degrees! At the top of the mountain it was snowing hard. Bailey absolutely loves playing in the snow. I thought he'd be prissy about it but he totally wasn't! We saw lots of Elk and some other strange looking animals that I don't know the names of. It's one of the most breath-taking sights ever and I don't I'll ever get over just how majestic those mountains are.

I love my place. I'm truly blessed to have such an awesome view of the foothills. Not to mention I've always wanted to live in a loft (sounds so cool to say "my loft", haha)

The Job is great, I'm finally getting the hang of things and started to make some money! We're going to Las Vegas next month for a trade show and I'm really excited. can't wait to represent my new company and meet up with some clients!

Soooo I went furniture shopping this weekend with my new friend Morgan. She's a girl from work who is from Maine. She's so nice and it was really cool of her to help me pick out furniture. I ended up getting a red couch that looks like it came out of a Pottery Barn catalog, along with an overstuffed red matching chair and an ottoman. I also got a bedroom set (4 poster black distressed bed and tv armoire)

it's sooo pretty! Can't wait for you to see it! I have some other decorating ideas too. I just bought a few paper star lanterns that I"m going to be hanging from my bedroom loft and maybe in my windows, should create a nice mood lighting :). I'm also going to put some pillar candles in the ledge of window above my slider.

I love that I can walk to work everyday and that the people at my job are so freakin' cool. I love the dry weather that does wonders for my skin and takes the frizz out of my hair. I love the friendly demeanor of people here. I love the beautiful scenery. The only thing I would change is to have all my old friends out here. That would be so perfect. Remember you are welcome to visit anytime and they have cheap tickets on the Frontier Airline's website.

I love you all and once I get my place decorated, I'll take lots of pictures at my housewarming party and post them!

-Arikka

¡Mi nueva casa!

2007-12-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

I snuck in there tonight to snap a few quick pictures, not the best, and it was dark so I couldn't get any good pictures of the mountains but I will definitely post more later. These are just for those of you who have been asking. :)

Passing The Time

2007-12-19T18:19:00.001-08:00

So I'm sitting here in the hotel laundry room, lit with a timed light. I"m listening to my clothes dry and taking some career advice from my former boss over IM. Also I'm debating on whether I should go back to being a true brunette. Not even a month ago I got my hair re-highlighted so it would be kind of foolish for me to be so rash but I think that color matched my Florida surroundings more; Colorado, not so much. I think since it's so wintry here I might need to go back to a rich chocolate brown, maybe I'll wait a month or so.... Also I need my bangs trimmed- they grow so fast!

In just a few days I'll be flying back to Florida, packing the rest of my stuff, celebrating Christmas with my family, seeing my friends one last time before the long journey to Colorado, I'm really excited....kinda nervous too.

I signed my lease yesterday so I have the keys to my new place with a view! Work is good, still learning a lot about their processes but making some good progress.

I sit next to Ryan's office and Ryan has a dog named Kodi (short for Kodiak, like the bear). He is a giant and black Labradoodle - he is so cute, but sadly he has serious issues with his digestive system ---meaning he farts all day long, it's pretty disgusting. At first I thought it was Matt (sales guy that sits next to me), but then I saw him hold his nose then I was scared he thought it was me. Pretty soon I found out that this is pretty much an everyday occurrence with Kodi---the dog has gas. I'm going to bring in an air freshener just to keep it smelling a little less like a gas chamber.

I almost slipped about 5 times on patches of melting ice today. Seriously, our office parking lot is comparable to an ice skating rink! I guess that's what happens when the snow melts then freezes again. The weather here wasn't that cold today, I think it got up to 45, not too shabby!

Let me tell you a little bit about what I know so far about Boulder. It's a college town. There are plenty of hippies here. Also they are very environment conscious - everything is organic and a lot of people drive hybrids. Also it's really artsy and funkey. Pearl Street is big here...it's got a huge walking mall and little shops and restaurants (funky artsy restuarants) and in the summer time there are all kinds of contortionists, musicians and other types of street performers. Everyone here is into the outdoors (kinda have to be I guess). You can do almost every outdoors sport imaginable (camping, hiking, fly fishing, white water rafting, skiing, boarding, rock climbing, ice skating, hockey, and the list goes on...) The scenery is majestic and the wildlife is plentiful. In boulder alone, there are 65 parks! Also there is about 1 bicycle for every person here (about 100,000) which I think is really cool! It's a very smart and tech-savvy town, and it's been voted the best place to live/work on more than one occasion. Ok, now I feel like an encyclopedia! I really think I'm going to like it here though and I'm very excited to make some new friends (outside of the awesome ones I've already made at work), maybe even find the love of my life.....

Alright I'll leave you with this. Estes Park is about 40 minutes North of Boulder, it's the site of Rocky Mountain National Park and also a hotel (pictured above) called The Stanley Hotel. This place is actually the place Stephen King based his novel "The Shining" on. If you've seen that movie, it's really creepy! Anyway, supposedly the place is seriously haunted, especially room 406 where there are many accounts of people hearing children's laughter in the hallways! I hate ghost stories and everything like that but I think it's really cool about the Stephen King thing (I think he lived in Boulder at the time he wrote the book). Just a little plug! I'll put the article below. Enjoy!

The Bottom Line:
If you are a Stephen King fan, request room 217. It was in this room that King, inspired by the Stanley Hotel, wrote half of "The Shining." The ABC miniseries was filmed at the Stanley Hotel as well.
The Stanley Hotel Haunting:
The ghosts in the Stanley Hotel aren't evil as in the book. Room 418 seems to have the most ghostly activity reported. In fact, the entire fourth floor of the Stanley Hotel (formerly the servants quarters) is quite active. Often, the sound of children playing in the halls of the Stanley can be heard, even when no children are present.
The Stanleys:
The Stanley Hotel's original owners, F.O. and Flora Stanley, are said to haunt the hotel as well. Mr Stanley plays the piano in the music room, and frequents the billards room and the lobby.

Should I go on a date with this man?

2007-12-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

It's a long story but yes there is an offer out there. He's actually a Christian too, which is nice.

check out his site, it's pretty funny

www.maybemike.com

New Year, New Job, New Adventure.

2007-12-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I figured it's time for me to start blogging again. Most of you know I kept pretty good track of my adventures in Martha's Vineyard a good 3-4 years ago on Xanga so I figured I'd do the same for my wild west adventure! Now you can keep track of all my life happenings without actually being here:)

The last few weeks have really just been a whirlwind of change and excitement. I took a job in Boulder Colorado with a great young company in the online industry. They are nestled right at the foothills of the rocky mountains (flatirons) and the scenery is like nothing I have ever seen. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to move to such a beautiful place and work with such wonderful people.

So I have been here since Wednesday the 5th. They flew me to Denver and paid for my rental car and hotel while I'm here. I'm flying back for Christmas on the 21st and then I'll drive here from Florida with my Mom and Bailey after Christmas!!!

I found a place to live last week. It's really a blessing b/c housing is really slim this time of year in Boulder. The condo I found is literally across the street from work! It's a live/work loft development! Basically it's mostly 2 and 3 bedroom lofts above studios that people work in (jewelry makers, graphic designers, artists, journeymen, etc) My one -bedroom doesn't have a studio beneath it, but how cool is that. Basically you walk up a flight of stairs then you're in my living room and kitchen. The development was just built in September. All hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and best of all brand new! You walk up another flight of stairs and you're in my bedroom loft. you can see out into the living room, it's such a sweet setup! Best of all it has an absolutely AMAZING balcony view of the flatirons. All of you are invited to come visit!

I also found out that a friend from my hometown lives near me! It was so good to catch up with her. We went to the Flatirons Mall to hang out and shop. I'm really glad she lives here.

This weekend we had our office Christmas party in Breckenridge! THAT was an awesome experience. They rented a huge 20 bedroom house in the mountains that we stayed in for 2 nights. We played beer pong, Catch phrase, watched Superbad, had a white elephant gift exchange, it was soooo much fun. Really good to get to know my coworkers on another level. On saturday we went to the slopes, I took a skiing lesson and fell in love with my instructor, it was an all around great time! It was -12 pretty much the whole weekend in the mountains there! Can you believe it!? and I still got sunburned! As my friend Nela and I were driving back through the rockies today we saw a MOOSE! Yes, he was chillin in the snow on the side of the road. We took a picture. Here he is below along with a few other pictures of my new snow-covered home! I'll be posting a lot more soon but for now here you go.

Love you all,

Arikka