Rocky Mountain High....

July 14-17 I escaped from the Houston humidity and went to Boulder, Colorado to visit one of my very best friends. Meghan and her boyfriend Tony graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in New York and decided to follow their hearts to the absolutely beautiful city of Boulder. I can't say that I blame them for choosing Boulder. It is beautiful! Mountain views, perfect weather and a community based around living a healthy life style. Walking and bike paths go throughout the whole city - so if you didn't want to drive anywhere - you could bike - safely. It was pretty awesome to see moms riding their bikes with kids in tow all over town. I can honestly say I came back inspired to live a healthier life style....it was absolutely fantastic!

I got in late Wednesday evening so we went back to her house (Tony was out of town) to enjoy some of Tony's beer...he's a brewer and brought home special beers that he had made. Let me just say that the moment I had that first beer I was trying to think of ways to get more of it back to Houston. Unfortunately for me, he works at a local brewery and they don't ship or distribute their beer....dang it....guess I'll have to go back....and take Lee and Elle with me.

View of the mountain as we were hiking

Thursday we went hiking in the morning and it was spectacular. The fact that Megs has mountains in her backyard where she can just take off and go hiking for the morning makes me want to be back there right now. I am definitely not in good shape so the trek up the mountain had my legs burning after just a few minutes. After our hike, Megs drove me around Boulder, we picked up some groceries and then we headed back to her house to get ready for the evening. In college, we became HUGE fans of a band named OAR. Just so happens that OAR was playing at Red Rocks on Thursday night and we just so happened to get tickets. We got to the theatre early to tailgate and it just proved to us how far we have come since college. We were surrounded by college students and while they were pulling out their Budweiser's, bags of chips and subway sandwiches, Megs and I were pulling out Orzo salad with dried cherries, kashi honey wheat crackers, and bottled beer (can't remember the name of it but it is definitely not your run of the mill beer...). Oh we have come so far....

Red Rocks was amazing and the concert was incredible too. Citizen Cope opened for them and were fantastic and then OAR came out and the place went crazy. It has been a long time since I went to a concert so to be in such an amazing place with such an amazing band and with one of my very dearest friends made the evening one I will never forget. Friday Megs had to attend a seminar in the morning so I walked the mile or so into town to a coffee shop and had coffee and breakfast. I could totally do that everyday! That afternoon after walking around the cutesy stores and stuff we went and saw Eclipse. Since we knew the boys would object if we dragged them to it, it was so much easier for both of us to go together. Awesome movie followed by an awesome dinner. Saturday morning we went to the local farmer's market and picked up fresh produce and a gift made by a hippie for Elle. I left Saturday afternoon and it was so sad leaving Megs. I usually tear up whenever I leave my friends and this time wasn't any different. I at least waited until I was inside the airport to tear up because Meghan would have laughed at me had she seen the few tears! It truly was an inspirational trip. Meghan is so talented in the kitchen - and she gave me a whole new perspective on feeding my family. We ate things like caprese salad and brushetta for meals and it was just as filling but 10x fresher and more delicious than the stuff I try to make for dinner at our house. The life style of Boulder just makes you want to be outside and be healthy! I wish that more of that mentality was here in Houston....and I also wish that it was about 10 degrees cooler and there weren't any mosquitoes! I absolutely can not wait to go back to Boulder - maybe next time I will be able to hike further up the side of the mountain!