candle winds.

tonight while playing cards, my grandpa said that jamie's shuffle ranked a ten in terms of candle winds.
he explained that it was producing enough of a breeze when jamie shuffled the two decks of cards to put out the tenth candle if candles were lined up in a row heading away from the table. obviously, he explained it much more eloquently than i am, but maybe you get the idea.
i love the random little things my grandpa says.

i've been so so so bad at taking photos.
i took a bunch during my flight here though.
i had a row to myself, which is always nice. i forgot my ipod, so instead i listened to the music that was available by hooking into the arm rest. i found a jazz station, and i think that might be my new favorite flight music. seriously. james and i occasionally listen to jazz when we drive around. there's just something about it. ha.
the last portion of my flight took place during the sunset and it was beyond beautiful:
did you notice the snow? there was less than i expected, but it was still so pretty.
for a while, the sky was a very vibrant orange.
and this was right as we touched down.

oh and i got to have lunch with miss victoria and my mom and brother before my flight left. my brother got in an hour before i needed to head through security. it was great to see them. victoria will now shake her head "no" repeatedly, and it's adorable.

i'm having an amazing time here in denver.
we've not been doing a whole lot, which is nice. plenty of time for visiting and playing cards. :]

on wednesday, my sister and i went shopping at cherry creek. i made myself walk past the tiffany store there. i lost a ring a while back, and so badly want to replace it. i guess i need to do some more searching for it first.
i did not resist stopping into martin + osa though. my sister and i both fell in love with the denim there. i think i've mentioned that i've been doing the jean search for a while now at macy's with little luck. i tend to wear only joe's jeans these days, but was even having trouble finding those. i was so happy to find two great pairs of jeans. [added bonus: they are about half the price of joe's. woot!]

that night, we ate dinner at the olive garden. we all talked about how we tend to order the same thing each time we go. i have a few dishes that i rotate between. my grandpa has gotten minestrone soup and salad for years and years. my grandma and i both commented that we always intend to try something new, but then remember how good whatever we had during the previous visit tasted, so we just go with that. :] after our meal, we headed back to my grandparents for cards and scrabble.

on thursday we headed up to the fort collins area to see my mom's parents and brother's, etc. for thanksgiving dinner number one. that "dinner" was around noon. it was nice to see everyone, although the visit was brief. i never feel like i have time to get past the small talk and into comfortable conversation there before it's time for everyone to leave. ah well.

we ate dinner that night with my dad's parents and brother. we cooked a pork loin, which was a bit of an adventure because my sister thought it only needed to cook for 18-22 minutes. as we were leaving her house on the way to grandma's where we would cook it, i asked her if she was sure it would be done in time for dinner because last time dad cooked one of those, it took f o r e v e r. she said she was sure. but. once we arrived at grandma's, she fully read the directions which said 18-22 minutes per pound. we were dealing with a 4 pound tenderloin. it was ten 'til six. oops. luckily, ken is quite the cook and recommended that we could convection bake it for an hour. so although dinner was a little late, it turned out perfectly. :]

after dinner, i had to sneak away to my computer for studio calico reveal night, which was happening at ten. i secured the stamp set that i wanted, so i was pretty happy. ha. then i went back out to join in the conversation. seems i'm not the only night owl of the family.

today marked two years for james and me. i was secretly hoping he would show up here in denver. ha. no such luck, but we did talk on the phone a bit.

this afternoon, we had thanksgiving number two here at my dad's parents' house. his brother, sister, and cousin were all able to make it with a few extras. all together, we had a nice group of eleven. we ate around one, and it was so so yummy. my favorite detail [that i hope to remember in the future] was my grandma's tradition of putting a little chocolate turkey at each place. so simple, but so cute. and even more cute was seeing my grandpa break into his chocolate turkey first! i wasn't even sure he would eat it. ha.
we did have one little conflict because my aunt brought her dog, and my grandparents are taking care of gonzo right now. my aunt has a big rottweiler. gonzo is a little guy. smaller than helix even. so we had to keep them separated for the most part. after we ate, my sister, jamie, and i took gonzo for a walk, which delighted him.

this evening, my sister and i made a trip to archivers. i didn't find much. i was hoping to find some stuff that we don't have locally, but that wasn't the case. the only thing i picked up was more of the american crafts moda bella papers that were now on clearance. funny thing is that last time i visited that store with my sister, it had just been released, and i was so exited to see the line. so basically, i purchased the same papers during both of my trips to archivers. ah well. :]

we got some food after our little scrappy shopping trip at "taste of philly". my sister and jamie eat there pretty often. i would actually say it was better than the cheesesteak that i had in philly. but then again, i was totally underwhelmed by the one i had in philly. this one was pretty good though. i would probably eat there again if i was ever in the mood for a cheesesteak.

tonight, we had another good round of cards. i lost one round, then tied for fourth in the second. i still have fun, even when i loose though. plus, it's refreshing to play games instead of just watch tv in the evenings like i tend to do at home.

my sister and i might head up to my uncle's ranch in wyoming tomorrow. it's been snowing outside tonight [which is so nice to see], so if that keeps up we won't go. if we do go, perhaps i can catch up on taking some photos though. we'll see...