Happy Birthday Casey!

So, Saturday was Casey's birthday. Yep, the big 32. (Ok, so I am catching up soon... but we won't talk about that right now.) He had a two-part celebration, one part on Thursday and one on Saturday night. Since I had the day off on Thursday, the first thing I did was surprise him with Starbucks and Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Then, I took him to the Denver Art Museum where he'd been wanting to go for a while. We saw some really cool stuff, some modern paintings from a german artist and some amazing sculptures as well.

We had lunch at a place called Mad Greens (if you have one nearby you, I highly recommend getting your booty to one asap). It has gourmet salads, panini sandwiches, and awesome soup, all for a good price. We ended the day with some nice red wine and chocolate.... Yummmm chocolate.....
On Saturday night, we were joined by several of our good friends here at Rio Grande Restaurant, a really good mexican place only about 10 minutes from our apartment. Awesome chips and salsa, good food in general, and delicious yet dangerous margaritas. So dangerous, they say, that they have a "three margarita limit," which I can't imagine even getting close to. I finished about half of one strawberry margarita and that was enough for me. Casey was given a birthday sopapilla, topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Very delicious.
Needless to say we were stuffed. It was an extremely successful birthday celebration. Having only moved here just a bit ago, I think Casey and I can both say that God has truly gone overboard on making us feel loved and surrounding us by people who bless us by their friendship. Thanks guys.

Nutcracker!

It's Nutcracker time once again... As I write this, I am counting up the many times I've performed in this particular ballet. I began as a "Tiny Tot" or as others call it, "Gingerbread" under Mother Ginger's skirt when I was seven years old, the typical starter role for a baby ballerina. I then continued on every year until I was eighteen years old. Let's add on last year's Nutcracker in Portland, where I danced the roles of Snowflake and Dewdrop Fairy, and that makes a grand total of... (drumroll)... twelve Nutcrackers for which I have donned pink tights, ballet shoes, and costumes .

The result? I can sing the entire score of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" to you if you ask me to. And I still remember all the steps I danced for eight years in my hometown at Ballet California and Academy, even though I haven't danced that particular choreography in over twelve years! Funny that I can't remember what I did last weekend, but I remember Mr. Martin's "Waltz of the Flowers."

But I digress. This year I have been given the opportunity to dance six different roles, some technically challenging and some that give me the chance to ham it up a bit: Clara's Friend, Mouse, Angel, Snowflake, Chinese, and a Flower. We will be doing two tours (one out of state and one in Colorado) and then coming back to perform twelve shows here in town.

In other news: Last week Casey, while fixing a car, got two pieces of debris in his eye and had to make two visits to urgent care... Poor guy. All the while fighting a bad cold and sleeping a lot. He is better now after getting the debris removed and taking eye drops for several days...and much happier to have a less-red eye and strengthened immune system. Please keep praying for a job for him, as he is still searching.

Can Someone Shut That Window!!!!

It sure was windy on Halloween here in Denver! Ok, so that's a lie, but here's something that isn't... Casey and I dressed up as a "windy day duo" this Halloween. This costume idea was extremely cheap, because all we had to buy was wire to make our clothes look like they were flying in the wind. We attended two parties (count 'em, TWO) this weekend. We really aren't usually this party animal-esque but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly at both parties. It was nice to get out and socialize, despite the fact we were both feeling a bit under the weather starting Saturday afternoon. Thus, we spent today hanging out at home, resting and (Gina) making chicken soup and (Casey) sleeping his sickies away hopefully. I (Gina) also spent much of the day taking echinacea and vitamin C pills to prevent catching Casey's sickies.