Some Thanksgiving Loveliness.

Ah, Thanksgiving.  The holiday where everyone Instagrams at least 2 of these 5 pictures: the cute baby or kid in the extended family, someone carving the turkey, their plate of food, their Christmas tree, and great Black Friday finds and/or lines. 

Everyone has their Thanksgiving traditions and favorite foods.

Well my Thanksgiving tradition got changed 3 years ago when my parents retired and moved to the Black Hills.  So now I go there instead of going to Grandma's house in my Minnesota hometown.   This year my aunt and two cousins made the 10ish hour drive out there as well. 

Family, beautiful scenery, and food?  Check.

The first morning the cousins and I hiked Lookout Mountain. It's not technically a mountain.  But it sounds more legit if you say you climbed a mountain rather than a hill, so mad props to whoever named it Lookout Mountain. 

Then we drove through Spearfish Canyon and walked down to the bottom of a waterfall. And it was snowy and beautiful and I kept singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland.  Mostly just in my head. Don't wanna be too embarrassing.

Then we went to Devil's Tower. It's so bizzare.

Here's my cute parents.
I like them.

Then we had to go say hello to the Presidents' heads.  Because when you're in the Black Hills, that's what you do.



Because it gets dark out so early now, they advertise the "Lighting of Mt. Rushmore!" in the local media.  So we went at dusk to see that.  They kept announcing the countdown until the lighting over the intercom.  So we were expecting something grandiose and "Ooohh! Ahhh!" worthy.

Nope.  They just...turned on the lights.

Oh look! We dressed up.

Headin' to the Hills for some Christmas tree hunting!!

Here's a video. 
I had one of my dad actually chopping the tree down, but long story short, you get to see this one instead.

After chopping down our tree, we stopped at Chubby Chipmunks for some truffles.  $3 each and worth every penny. I like to support local businesses. 

Especially when they have as cool of a name as Chubby Chipmunks.

Here's my little tree I got for my apartment :)

Yep, I have a blast whenever I get to come to visit my parents in Spearfish.  It's only a 6 hour car ride from Denver, so I'll be pretty sad when I move to Seattle and am ALOT further away.  But...it is what it is.

I sure do have a lot to be thankful for!

Oh, and Quincy loves being at his grandparents' house. He's the spoiled first grandchild and loves every minute of it.  He's on a diet though so was paranoid about all the apple and pumpkin pie he was eating.

I will leave you with this little slice of hedgie happiness.

10 months and 6 days in Colorado later...

I hope I did that math right.  I moved to Denver on January 5th.  So yes. I've been a Colorado resident for 10 months and 6 days.

And as I sit at my table next to a notebook with lists of what I'm going to sell, donate, bring to my parents' on Thanksgiving, send with my parents truck, and pack in my Subaru for my move to Washington in less than 2 months, I felt I needed to process what I've learned these past 10 months while doing life in Colorado, first. So here goes.

1. It hasn't been glamorous.  Not that I thought it always would be, I'm a realist.  But, I'm also an optimist (can I be both? Yes I can.)  I always try to focus on the positives.  And those positives make much better blog posts than all the negatives. So if you've read my blogs it looks like I've had the best time ever and have adjusted well to this new life of independence and basically starting over.  And it HAS been amazing.  But to be honest, (and not to be all dramatic...) my time in Colorado has also been the loneliest season in my life so far.  And that makes sense.  I left my friends and family and moved to a place where I virtually knew no one.

2. I've grown a lot.  I joined a small group Bible study and a rec league soccer team, which were both pretty out of my comfort zone at first. A.K.A, normally things I would have avoided.  The soccer was great, but the small group has really been a life changer for me--because of the friends I've made through it and also the spiritual growth that it has encouraged in my life.

I've also grown in confidence through my job especially in transitioning into my new role which has required me to lead and speak in front of volunteer groups multiple times a week. You can't be shy doing that.  Especially when you have 50 teenagers staring at/listening to you.

One of my most valuable lessons here, is that I learned for the first time in my life what it truly means to reconcile a friendship that seemed completely unfixable.  I found out recently that she was "so mad" when she first heard I was moving out here.  And I will forever be grateful for her forgiveness and friendship in my life. Although we didn't know how to exactly go about it, we kind of just jumped in, and she's again one of my closest friends.

3. I learned I can live without cable.  Really.  It's possible.  And when I watch TV, I don't like watching the History Channel or anything educational.  I'm watching the Kardashians, Gossip Girl, and although I've never really seen it...I'm sure I'd be the Honey Boo Boo watching type.

But instead I'm stalking all of you on Facebook.  Which honestly sometimes isn't much better.

4. I don't have to work so hard to fit into God's plan. What I mean by this, is I've always been afraid of making one wrong decision and then being screwed.  So, I try too hard.  I think too much. Example: I googled, researched, Facebook-stalked and went to a dozen different churches the first 7 months in Denver, before one day I woke up late and simply walked across the street from my apartment, where I found a church I absolutely love.

Good one.

I've learned if you have a sincere heart in wanting to follow Him and bring Him glory...you're not going to stray too far off the path.  Sometimes the path is a lot less complicated than we think.

Just do SOMETHING.  And He will work through it.

5. Moving is hard.  I'm obsessed with the word "adventure".  You could get me to do almost anything if you tell me "it will be an adventure!" Okay, not really, but I am seriously starstruck by adventure.  And moving to a new state is, in fact, an adventure. I've climbed a 14,000 foot mountain--that was an adventure.  I've hung out with, gone running with, gotten lost with, and laughed with new friends--those were all welcomed adventures.  And I met a guy who was here on a mission trip from Seattle and started dating him--that has also been an adventure.

But moving away from the familiar isn't the kind of adventure that is always fun.  Sometimes it has it's perks, I'll admit---like tonight, I returned my Redbox at Walgreens and I looked like a complete slob.  Sweatpants tucked into dressy boots (they were the closest shoe to the door), sweatshirt, no makeup, hair in an unattractive ballerina/librarian bun (no offense to any ballerinas or librarians--go and rock that bun with pride.)...because I knew I wasn't going to run into anyone I knew.

But there are also days when I miss my friends in Minnesota SO much I can hardly stand it.  Even then, I wouldn't care if I was sporting a ballerina bun if I ran into them at Walgreens--because they're my friends.  And I've probably seen them in worse.

There are days when I have a certain breed of identity issues--because I don't have any old, crazy fun memories at places here like I do in Minnesota.  I don't have my mom, grandma, or a close family friend's home to go to when I want a home-cooked meal.  I also don't really know any young kids here, either.

And I miss that.

But guess what? At the end of the day, it's still all worth it (cue the optimistic blog writer).  I've met some awesome people.  I've grown personally and spiritually in ways I probably don't even realize yet.

And although sometimes it's lonely, I can honestly say I'm not bored with life.  I've taken a leap of faith.  I've gotten out of my comfort zone.  And God has never left my side.  Even in the lowest, darkest times in this journey...He's always there.  He sometimes spoke through my coworkers, showed me a verse, nudged a friend to text me at just the right moment, or simply just gave me peace.  And without that I probably wouldn't have made it past February.

One thing that is pretty crazy after writing all of that, is that I'll be starting this whole process ALL over again in 2 months.  And that's sort of terrifying.

But also sort of awesome.

Well, it's official...

What's official? Well you just have to wait until the end of this post to find out.  And no looking ahead.

Rules, people.

So I just got back from my fourth trip to the Seattle area in 5 months.  And my trips to WA never fail to be "the best weekend ever".  I suppose a certain guy has something to do with that, though.

This trip we: 

Went to a shooting range 

(where I shot my first gun...being from a small town in MN I was way overdue).

Watched his Godkids play soccer.

Carved pumpkins.

Watched football.

Visited with his grandma.

Took a ferry ride!

So, the ferry.  Maybe not a big deal to people that live in Seattle, but I was pumped.  However, I was expecting maybe like an extra large pontoon type thing or something.  But this thing was massive.  And you drive your cars onto it.  And it's got a cafeteria and a bunch of seats and stuff.   AND we went and bought junk food before getting on it.  Actually maybe that's why I liked it so much--sugar high?

"OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER IN A MILLION YEARS THAT I'VE EVER SEEN! THIS IS AWESOME! I WANNA GO ON THE FERRY EVERDAY!!"---Kirsten with sugar. Or caffeine.

But really, it was pretty cool for never having been on a ferry before.  And as we got closer to the Seattle skyline I took like 57 blurry pictures of it--because it was beautiful.

Anyway.  The other highlight was a surprise date night on Sunday night.  I love surprises.  Really, I do.  But I always get a little nervous just because what if it's a lame surprise? Then you have to act really excited about it so the person isn't disappointed.  And I'm not a great actress.

But I really wasn't too worried, because I have a pretty fantastic boyfriend.  We pull into a parking lot and I have no idea where we are.  I see people walking...he asks me to guess where we are...I have no clue...he says look at what people are wearing.  Uh, clothes?

Oh some sports jersey.  Football? Nope, not football.  Look closer. Hockey? Hockey! They're wearing HOCKEY JERSEYS!!

I'm from Minnesota.  Fill in the blanks.  I was excited.  And I didn't even have any sugar that night.

So that was fun, too.

It was rainy the whole time, but I didn't even mind.  I hardly noticed until I got back to Denver today and walked outside and felt like I just walked out of the Eye Doctors after they put that stuff in your eye to dilate your pupils. Except I didn't have those sweet flimsy plastic sunglasses they give you.

So bright.

But guess what? As of today...it's offical.  I'm moving to Washington :)

Of course it's been in the planning/dreaming mode for a few months now, and boyfriend got the job at Boeing in Seattle so he won't be going anywhere...and the idea of getting to hang out with and go on dates with my boyfriend on the weekends sounds pretty good.  Texting/Skype/Phone calls are great but...

And World Vision's headquarters are in WA, and I have family 3 hours away in Oregon, and to be honest, I love Denver...but I'm just not loving my life in Denver, if that makes sense.  And it's just not home here to me.  At all.

So that's the official news.  You heard it here first.  My boss has been in the loop the whole time, but he said if I could know 'for sure' by this week it would really help the transition for the next employee.  So I told him today that it is 'for sure'.  Ahh!

Here's how it's probably going to go down: I fly home to MN for Christmas.  From MN I fly to Missouri for a work event (Urbana--ever heard of it? It's a huge student missions conference. Pretty sweet).  Josh is also helping out at that event. Both of us will fly back to Denver on Dec. 30th.  We will load up hopefully JUST my Subaru and drive the 1300 miles straight to Seattle and get there in time for New Years Eve.  Ambitious, we know.

Things to still figure out? Well...I don't have a job...or a place to live yet.  Minor details, minor details.  God's in this.  I'm not worried. My lease here is up January 4th so that works out.  What about my stuff? Well, at some point we will fill my dad's truck (parents are going to store stuff at their house temporarily) and then I'll fill the Subaru, and whatever else doesn't fit gets sold, donated, or thrown.  Easy enough, right? Well, probably not, but I have two months.

(Holy cow I'm moving in two months....)

Side note.  This will be the 10th time I've moved in 6 years.  Yikes.
Life changes fast.
--and if you're bored tonight, here's an old post I wrote about some of that: finding adventure.

I do get nervous and stressed out at times trying to figure out all these "minor details" but then I remember how He provided for my Denver move (you can read about that here if you missed it). I had peace about that move and I have peace about this one.  And that's important.  I wouldn't move if I didn't have peace about it.  All the doors might not be open yet, but I'm learning how to be okay with just walking through one at a time.

And maybe splash in a few Seattle puddles along the way :)

Green Means Go.

The other night I hit 24 green traffic lights in a row.  Yes, I counted.  And guess what I did when I got to the 25th light and it was red?

Got mad and went "Ughhhhhhh".

It ruined my streak! I could have been a world record holder! How could God possibly allow that one light to turn red when everything had been going SO well!? 

Yep.  It's analogy time.  Because I realized right then, that's exactly how I react when I hit a red light in 'my' life's plans.  

Everything is going just how I like it, I'm planning everything all out....and then a light turns red and I have to hit the breaks.  I get mad and go "ughhhh".  Because I've been spoiled.  And I don't like hearing "no" or "not yet".  

But guess what? The light will eventually turn green again.  You don't want to run through the red light or you'll crash into the other traffic.  Sometimes we just have to be patient and wait our turn.

I've had a bit of a red light lately.  But I'm just now starting to see the other traffic light turning yellow...which means my green is coming shortly :) 

Stay tuned...

So there's a softball sized creature that lives in my apartment...

Normally I'm the queen of being able to make it to last minute plans.  Which has gotten me many-a-free tickets to things like sporting events and concerts when other people bail.  But the past week or so has been crazy. I got back from our big roadtrip, then 

Tuesday night Josh went back to Seattle. Brutal. 

Wednesday night I had small group.  

Thursday night I went to the RHCP concert with Alex (see second sentence). 

Friday was our annual Audit day at work...which was a pretty big deal.  Then Friday night I finally unpacked from the roadtrip and bought some groceries blah blah blah.

Saturday I worked and had dinner with my dad who was in town because he had a Charter Bus run here.  I loved that :) 

Sunday I flew to Pittsburgh for the World Vision-Day of Prayer...we got to spend it with the WV Pittsburgh staff and sightsee a bit---which was all awesome.  I often take it for granted, but WOW do I work for an amazing organization!

So I got back to Denver on Tuesday night.  

Then on Wednesday I got to practice my volunteer coordinating skills....and lead 98 middle school students (who were honestly so much fun) in a sort project at work since Ashley (regular volunteer coordinator) is on vacation this week.  That was...an energy filled and lots-of-coffee kind of workday.  Which resulted in an "I know I brought my lunch, but I need some Qdoba and Coldstone" kind of lunch break. 

So today? Today I finally realized it's fall in Denver.  So I went for a 3 mile run at lunch because when it's fall...you're supposed to run outside and then post on Facebook about how much you love running outside in the fall. I then made it through the afternoon on a wonderful runner's high. 

I went to Target after work just for cat food (aka hedgie food)....and left $72 later.  Target is like a crazy evil vortex.  You can never walk in and leave without spending at least $50.  But I really just needed that pumpkin coffee creamer.  And 'Fall Leaves and Spice' air freshener for my apartment.  Yes. I did need it.  Because it's fall. 

Then I got home and checked on the softball sized creature that lives in my apartment (that's Quincy)....and he was out cold.  

Literally.  

He had begun hibernating because it was too cold for him.  Hibernating is normal for hedgehogs in the wild to do....but deadly for domesticated hedgies.  This was the third time this has happened so I knew the drill.  I put him directly on my stomach and covered him up.  45 minutes and a very red and scratched up stomach later....my hedgie is now running on his wheel without a care in the world.  It was a little scary though.  My favorite part is when he finally wakes up...because first he just stares off into space.  Then he acts drunk and kind of wobbles around. 

And he's just cute. 

Coming out of his stupor. 

But he's okay now.  And the busyness should settle down for awhile...so I can actually talk to my best friend who is finally back from Alaska :) And maybe go see a movie. And maybe do some shopping since I haven't bought any new clothes for months.  Oh and do my laundry. 

Priorities. 

Twenty nine hundred and nine. Miles, that is.

Road trips are fun.

It's awesome to see all the scenery, laugh at little hick towns, eat awesome road trip snacks, have good conversations and sing at the top of your lungs to classic boy-band songs.

Yes, roadtrips are fun, but they're also a little overrated.

At least in my opinion.  But maybe that's because we drove through the entire lengths of Wyoming, North and South Dakota.  Besides the badlands, it's not exactly slam-on-the-brakes/picture-snapping scenery.

But although we definitely got sick of sitting in the car for hours and hours and hours, I'd still say it was a very successful and fun trip.  Josh got to meet my grandparents, lots of cousins, aunts, and some of my best friends.  He got to see where I grew up and where I went to college.  We got to spend time with my mom who was with us for part of the trip, and the main reason for the trip: I got to stand next to two of my best childhood friends as they each got married on back to back weekends.

And on the note of weddings, I decided that someday when I get married...someone else is planning the entire thing. It was a blast to be a part of those two very unique weddings, especially because both brides were SO laid back and easy going while they enjoyed their beautiful day.

But I cannot plan things like that.  I'd be stressed about everything.  So someone else can plan it.  Do whatever you want.  Just make it pretty.

Anyway.  Trip was great. My family and friends are awesome.  The weddings were beautiful.  We had lots of good laughs. And Josh and I still liked each other afterwards.  In fact, we never even had one fight. 

Which is saying something considering we were with each other for 25 nonstop days this month--which includes this 2,909 mile trip--after only ever having spent 3 or 4 days at a time together.  

Good ol' long distance. 

 I kinda wonder what our first fight will be about.  I hope its something interesting.

 "No, we are not jumping down into that alligator infested swamp!" "Okay then, get eaten by the hippos chasing us to the edge of this cliff!" 

Hmm. 

Welp, here's a couple pictures of our Denver : Spearfish : Fargo : Minneapolis : Thief River Falls : Medora : Spearfish : Denver trip.  

 

 





 

It was really weird for me to be back in MN, with my Seattle boyfriend, now that I live in Denver.  Everything about MN was familiar. But in a really weird way.  Like I was on the outside looking in. I could only reminisce and be all touristy about it--which I did by going to all my favorite places rapid fire--but it was different because I wasn't 'doing' that life in real time, I couldn't authentically experience that life anymore.

But I wasn't sad or depressed about it or anything.  It was just....weird.

I suppose that's all just a part of this whole life thing.

You grow up and sometimes you move and you make new friends and get new jobs and meet new people and like new music and try new things and get new hobbies.  You get used to acquiring a significant amount of 'news'.  New is fun.  New is good.  There's adventure in 'news'.  But then you hear an old song or see an old friend or walk through your old neighborhood...and memories flood back and you don't really know how to handle that because those 'olds' are still somehow a part of you.  They're a part of your story, they just aren't main players in your current day-to-day story anymore.  And sometimes that gets a little weird when confronted with an 'old'.

But, yanno what? I think that's okay.

Because in all honesty....I think life was meant to be a little weird.

The thing about Denver...

The thing about Denver is...it definitely has its own culture that isn't too hard to quickly pick up on. And being a natural overanalyzer and also having my degree in Sociocultural Studies...I think it's super interesting.

It's basically like freshman year of college all over again.  Except instead of 18 year olds fresh out of their hometowns....it's 20somethings that graduated college a few years ago and recently left their home states. Most of the people I've met either just got their first "real" job here which is why they moved....or they moved here just to try something new and had to just find any job right away to pay the rent.

And buy ski passes.

But really, it's such a young city...any restaurant/bar you go to is full of people under the age of 30.  And I've maybe seen one nursing home.  Maybe.  I'm not sure if it's a nursing home or an apartment with lots of wheelchair ramps and a sunshiny/dignity-giving sounding name.

Everyone is willing to befriend new people pretty quickly.  The first thing my friend Alex told me when I got here...is not to ever be hesitant about inviting myself to things.  People don't look at it the same way as in the midwest.  It's not annoying, it's welcomed because everyone is wanting to get to know more people and make new friends here.

No one is originally from here.  Well...at least it doesn't seem like it.  If you're a Colorado native....you're super rare.  Honestly, I've maybe only met 2 or 3 people so far that grew up here.  And they have bumper stickers that say so.

Freedom is highly valued.  Not the typical "I'm an American, hear me roar" kind of freedom...but the "I just moved away from everyone and everything I know, so don't hold me back, I'm going to climb every 14er, meet lots of people, and enjoy every second of this stage of life" type of freedom.  You don't find too many people in dating relationships.  And of course it goes without saying that everyone is super outdoorsy and adventurous.  And healthy.  And outdoorsy. And drives a Subaru or a Jeep.  Um...and outdoorsy.

Skiing/Snowboarding/Camping/MountainBiking/Hiking/Climbing/TrailRunning.  If you live in Colorado and don't do any of that...why are you even here?  Girls that wear plaid downtown get hit on more than girls who wear skirts.  Okay maybe that's not entirely true...well...yeah it kind of is.

Well, I'll stop there, because I've only lived here for 8 months and I don't want to get too stereotypical.  But I think most people that live here can agree with most of that.  If I'm wrong, well, I'll buy you a Clif bar.


Okay, unrelated to the main point of this post...but I went to Washington again this weekend.  Of course I had an amazing time and it gets harder and harder to come back to Colorado each time (which is saying something, because Colorado is awesome).   I got a motorcycle ride, got to watch boyfriend play in his softball tournament, hang out with a bunch of his friends, meet his three grandmas, learn how to wakeboard and go tubing while out on sunny Lake Washington for 6 hours!! So much fun.

I love Instagram...but really I'm not super into the faded and old fashioned picture look.  It's sort of pointless to me.  It's like moving backwards in photography.

So here's a few of my favorite (anti-Instagram) pictures from the day on the lake: