Mark & Mandy

For Martin Luther King Jr. Day (three day weekend) we went skiing with Jessica and Yancey up at Keystone. This was our first ski outing since we have moved to Colorado and purchased our new ski gear at the SNIAGRAB (yes this is bargains spelled backwards) in August.

I decided it would be good to have a pink jacket to stick with my life color – but I need to remember to balance my love of pink, my commitment to my life color and my capacity to spill any thing I eat or drink.

The first day was warm (30’s) and the mountain was packed – we headed over to the Outback Express area that allowed Mark and Jessica lots of access to moguls. After the first day of skiing we headed home to watch the Bronco’s whoop the Patriots and sit in the hot tub – I was exhausted.

We also skied the next day. Yancey’s business school buddy was also with us, and he headed up the next morning to get “first tracks” – we were still eating our full cooked breakfast – and chatted with some of the locals who recommended taking the Snow Cat up to the Bowl which was awesome. It wasn’t crowded and the snow was great – if you are up at Keystone definitely do this! By the end of the day, I wasn’t sure I could even feel my legs (I vowed to start exercising) so we dulled the pain with a beer.

We had surf and turf for dinner at the Condo and watch 24 – but sadly did not go through our expected wine consumption – another data point for Josh’s drinking at altitude theory. We had a blast – Next stop Vail!

Last night we visited Scott and Julie and met the newest, snuggliest little ball of love: SUMO!! He is just a perfect pug! Already he is potty trained and can play fetch. Unlike Lola, Sumo plays hard for a few minutes and then is ready for a nap in your lap, complete with little snores.

He was much smaller than I imagined and his fur is super soft like a baby seal. You can see more pictures of the snugglet on Scott’s Flickr page. I can’t wait to see him on the Daily Puppy.

Lola can’t wait to meet Sumo – she could learn a few things about taking naps.
One thing they both have in common is posing for cameras – they are clearly trained to be runway dogs, now only if their dad’s would let them wear clothes.

It’s no secret that I have been wishing for the monthly flowering plants – I continued to drop hints to Mark with no luck. Last Month I got the sweetest card from Michael Sladden and a note that I would be receiving a whole year of flowering plants from Smith and Hawkin.

WOW!!

In December I received an amaryllis that was needing time to flower. Just this week it began to bloom.

Yesterday I received a HUGE cymbidium orchid in full bloom. It is amazing and making Mark quite jealous – he constantly tries to re-bloom orchids. We have yet to see a bloom, but we always have some new growth that gives Mark hope.

Thank you Michael for brightening each of my months!! and giving me a chance to try and turn my brown thumb green!! 

Happy New Year to everyone! After Greg’s Roof blew off of his loft we moved the New Years Party to our house. Chris, Saira and JB flew in for the event and we were able to test the French Flirt and the Bellini-tini were a hit – and by 8:30 pm Jonathan was lit up!! Fabulous! The drinks were served in martini glasses which mark started referring to as your “Drunk-ometer” because of the spillage through the night.

To spice up our night even Greg D drank – moving his “Fun-ometer” from “0″ to “Cool” in no time flat.

We played Beer Pong through the night using a keg of Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy Pale ale – a local beer. As the night progressed Chris started using his martini glass as his Beer Pong Target – which turned out to be an easy target!!

We had too much food, including a chocolate Fondue fountain and crepes. We rang in the new years with party hats, more champagne and CONFETTI!! (just a note to all you homeowners – spilled drinks + confetti=stained hard wood floor – scrubbing will get it out, eventually). After the ball dropped we headed into the 80’s music dancing – Kristin and Angela (Kristin’s college Roomate) were dancing Queens!

Even a few games of Halo were tried – after 2/3 of the way through the game Chris’s score was -1, and Mark was beating Jonathan. Even after Greg’s begging the boys wouldn’t play anymore.

We had a great night and wish you all the best for 2006!!

a little late…

We hosted Christmas this year and had a great time. I subjected my animals to a bit of torture. Cricket hated it the most – and Lola posed like she was on a runway.

The Christmas Jammie tradition continued with Bright polkadots.

And in true Richau fashion we overdid it on the presents – but it was so much fun. Mark and I got new push golf carts from my parents so we headed out to play a few holes after presents. We had a great holiday.

Christmas Eve day the Richau’s headed to see the Bronco’s (Special Thanks to Denny Buscher for the Tickets!!). This was my first time EVER to see the Bronco’s and the first time to Invesco Stadium for my parents and Josh. Mark and Amy decided to spend the day with their sisters while we were at the game.

We drove to the Game in my dad’s truck and began looking for parking – the lots closest to the field were charging $40 to park for the game – My dad really wanted to get into the stadium so he said, “lets just do it” and in we pulled. We were waiting to pay the attendant when a guy walked up to our window and said – “Are you really going to pay $40 to park here”. We said sadly – “Yes” and he said for $20 I will give you my lot pass to park next to the field. We paid the man (feeling a bit nervous about the validity of the pass) and headed down to Lot E – right next to the stadium with easy access to leave. Thanks Random Nice Guy!!

The bronco’s were playing their long time rival the Oakland Raiders – Josh has a soft spot for the Raiders and Crenshaw was born in Oaktown so we were trying to be on our best behavior. We had a few bold Raider fans behind us – fortunately we were all in the Christmas spirit (including the “paint-your-face” fans.

Being Christmas Eve we saw lots of Santa Broncos – and many signs stating that “Even Santa was a Raider Hater” – of course my mom (after a couple of beers) continued to remind the Raider fans behind us that “we were not Raider Haters” – in case he forgot.

It was Fan Appreciation day so the whole stand was filled with orange pom-poms which my dad used as a pony tail. We were so enthusiastic that we kept dunking the end of the pom-poms into our beer and showering our neighbors – they didn’t seem to mind. The Bronco’s whooped the Raiders and we headed home for Maine Lobsters Direct Christmas Eve Dinner! What a day!!

Happy New Year to everyone! After Greg’s Roof blew off of his loft we moved the New Years Party to our house. Chris, Saira and JB flew in for the event and we were able to test the French Flirt and the Bellini-tini were a hit – and by 8:30 pm Jonathan was lit up!! Fabulous! The drinks were served in martini glasses which mark started referring to as your “Drunk-ometer” because of the spillage through the night.

To spice up our night even Greg D drank – moving his “Fun-ometer” from “0″ to “Cool” in no time flat.

We played Beer Pong through the night using a keg of Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy Pale ale – a local beer. As the night progressed Chris started using his martini glass as his Beer Pong Target – which turned out to be an easy target!!

We had too much food, including a chocolate Fondue fountain and crepes. We rang in the new years with party hats, more champagne and CONFETTI!! (just a note to all you homeowners – spilled drinks + confetti=stained hard wood floor – scrubbing will get it out, eventually). After the ball dropped we headed into the 80’s music dancing – Kristin and Angela (Kristin’s college Roomate) were dancing Queens!

Even a few games of Halo were tried – after 2/3 of the way through the game Chris’s score was -1, and Mark was beating Jonathan. Even after Greg’s begging the boys wouldn’t play anymore.

We had a great night and wish you all the best for 2006!!

a little late…

We hosted Christmas this year and had a great time. I subjected my animals to a bit of torture. Cricket hated it the most – and Lola posed like she was on a runway.

The Christmas Jammie tradition continued with Bright polkadots.

And in true Richau fashion we overdid it on the presents – but it was so much fun. Mark and I got new push golf carts from my parents so we headed out to play a few holes after presents. We had a great holiday.

Christmas Eve day the Richau’s headed to see the Bronco’s (Special Thanks to Denny Buscher for the Tickets!!). This was my first time EVER to see the Bronco’s and the first time to Invesco Stadium for my parents and Josh. Mark and Amy decided to spend the day with their sisters while we were at the game.

We drove to the Game in my dad’s truck and began looking for parking – the lots closest to the field were charging $40 to park for the game – My dad really wanted to get into the stadium so he said, “lets just do it” and in we pulled. We were waiting to pay the attendant when a guy walked up to our window and said – “Are you really going to pay $40 to park here”. We said sadly – “Yes” and he said for $20 I will give you my lot pass to park next to the field. We paid the man (feeling a bit nervous about the validity of the pass) and headed down to Lot E – right next to the stadium with easy access to leave. Thanks Random Nice Guy!!

The bronco’s were playing their long time rival the Oakland Raiders – Josh has a soft spot for the Raiders and Crenshaw was born in Oaktown so we were trying to be on our best behavior. We had a few bold Raider fans behind us – fortunately we were all in the Christmas spirit (including the “paint-your-face” fans.

Being Christmas Eve we saw lots of Santa Broncos – and many signs stating that “Even Santa was a Raider Hater” – of course my mom (after a couple of beers) continued to remind the Raider fans behind us that “we were not Raider Haters” – in case he forgot.

It was Fan Appreciation day so the whole stand was filled with orange pom-poms which my dad used as a pony tail. We were so enthusiastic that we kept dunking the end of the pom-poms into our beer and showering our neighbors – they didn’t seem to mind. The Bronco’s whooped the Raiders and we headed home for Maine Lobsters Direct Christmas Eve Dinner! What a day!!