Summer of Love

Once again, it's been so long since my last post that I actually forgot my password. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure it out, typing in every last combination until my head was dizzy. That's when I saw the light: the CAPS lock was on. Disaster averted!

May/June/July extra-fast recap:

The highlight for May was white-water rafting at the Royal Gorge in Canon City with Jamie and Jordan. We went on the full-day trip and it was amazing! We all stayed in the raft and dominated Class IV and V rapids and only suffered one injury: a black, bloody eye. Not bad for such a rowdy trip!

In June we were home for Jenae's graduation from Bethany for the first weekend of the month. It was great to see everyone and enjoy time in Indiana. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary on the 17th, hard to believe how fast time flies. The last week of June I flew home for Kara and Andre's wedding, and Jason opened Store #2 on June 23rd. The opening was much easier this time around, for many reasons. Unexpectedly, Jason flew to Indiana on June 29 because of the passing of his Grandma Riegsecker. We spent a few days in Ohio with the family and shared many memories of Grandma who was such a lovely, sweet woman of God.

July brought my family to Colorado over the 4th; we spent four days in Breckenridge shopping, hiking, horseback riding, eating, and more shopping. Jamie and Jordan spent the day with us in Breck, and the guys (Jason, Mike, Dustin, Jordan) went mountain biking, which seemed to be a highlight of their week! We came back to Denver for the end of the week and went hiking in El Dorado and drove to Colorado Springs to see Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. Fun stuff!

We've had a really fun and exciting Summer overall. However, I've had a pesky little friend visit me many times over the past few months and his name is Migraine. Normally, I would not give him the credit and allow him to be part of my post, but I feel like he demands my respect and believe me, at this point I will do whatever he wants so he will LEAVE me ALONE! I have to admit that the typically beautiful Colorado weather has been less than glamorous this summer season....let me explain.

Many afternoons in the months of June and July (around 20 in a row in June to be exact) a gray, cloudy sky rolls in about 2 or 3 p.m. and unleases its fury on the Front Range. Why would this be a problem? you might ask... This is about the time of day that my face, and by face I mean sinuses, feel like they are going to explode. The pressure mounts in my head, and if I'm lucky to catch it in time and take the proper precautions, I'm usually fine. But for the 10 or so days in the past 2 months that I have not been so lucky, Mr. Migraine comes and makes my day pretty miserable. I have never had the frequency of migraines that I am experiencing now, and I really do think the weather is to blame. The worst part is that (as all sufferers of these headaches know) they wipe out every last plan that you have for the day, fun or not. But enough complaining, many many people in this city are going through the same pain I am, and I'm learning how to deal with it better. Let's just hope Mother Nature decides to like us again soon! Otherwise I might have to buy stock in Advil Cold & Sinus.

*A life without love is like a year without Summer*

*Swedish Proverb*

April

is a promise

that May

is bound to keep.

*H. Borland

In Honor of Earth Day...

Ok, so I know what you're thinking: "Danielle moved to Denver and is now a tree-hugging hippie due to too much time spent in Boulder." Haha! Not entirely true, but I have changed/opened my outlook on many things since moving here. Or maybe that's just part of growing up. Either way, I thought I would pay respect to our planet today, considering it is Earth Day after all. My family did not recycle growing up, and to be honest, ad campaigns weren't "in your face" about going green like they are now. Now its all we hear about. But back in the old days of the early 90's recycling wasn't a priority for many families. Ours was no different.

But now that I have my own house, I try my best to recycle as much as I can. And I have even abolished paper plates (in reality, I ran out and decided it may be better not to use them anymore). I can feel myself getting "crazier" as I try to come up with more green ways to live. We have changed almost every light bulb in the house, and I'm thinking about switching over to environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. I will admit one big guilty pleasure though: my aerosol hairspray. Not sure I will ever be able to give that up! ;) So now, for your reading pleasure, I have included a few facts about recycling. Part of the reason for the listing of these facts is the "teacher within" coming out in me; but the truth is they really are important.

Props to those of you that already recycle! If I could, I'd put a cheesy ol' smiley face sticker on your shirt! :) Job Well Done.

Every little bit helps, do your part!

Enjoy & Happy Earth Day!

Did you know...

• Recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to run your TV for 3 hours

• If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year

• ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer

• Recycling just 1 ton of aluminum cans rather than throwing them away conserves more than the equivalent of 36 barrels of oil

** For more information about Going Green, click HERE.

*Source: http://www.resourcefulschools.org/facts.html

Life = Beautiful!

This is by far the most exciting time of year! And by this I mean the hope of Summer is just around the corner. Summer is my favorite season of all, and the warm days of Spring get my mind so ready for those smoldering hot days of Summer! If you ignore the fact that our weekend weather was terrible (a good ten inches of snowy, slushy, get your jeans wet and your hair ruined rain) you will see that Denver is known for its sunshiny days like today. Days where I wake up to sun coming through the slats of the shades, and looking forward to taking Sadie outside just to see how warm it is. Days when I think and think all day to decide what to make for dinner that we could eat outside on our cute little green umbrella-ed table. These are the best days. Especially if you consider my great morning which included a cardio class at the gym followed by lunch and shopping for hair products with a great friend at an exclusive place shop-able only by those who have a coveted cosmetologist license in the State of Colorado (or those with a friend who does). :)

So as I sit here, my chicken is broiling for some yummy chicken enchiladas for a "picnic" dinner outside with Jamie and Jordan tonight (and I would be mistaken if I forgot to add our adorable little dogs to the mix, who happen to be best friends and completely obsessed with each other). The weather is a wonderful 66* and our landscape lights hung on the fence ready for many a meal in the backyard. Life is beautiful!

I am making 2 new goals as of last week. Here they are:

1. Work out at LEAST 3 times a week

2. Come up with new ideas for dinner, so I can continue to enjoy cooking more and more (those of you who know me well probably realize that I'm not the biggest fan...Rachel Ray is trying to help me!

Feel free to bug me and ask me how these things are going...I need the accountability. But, so far so good.

I have uploaded some recent pictures of activities at the Rupp house...

Enjoy your week! I know I will :)

Welcome Spring, Bring it On!

Today I am graduating from the Denver School of Massage Therapy. I'm really excited to be done, and I spent a few days this week training at a new job. I feel very lucky to have gotten a job at such a nice spa, especially considering I don't have much experience. Most spas won't hire you unless you've worked at another spa for at least a year..."how did I land this??" is what I've been thinking all week!

I checked weather.com last night and it looks like the next 3 days in Denver are going to be sunny (obviously) and 70*. Did I mention I love living here?!? No big plans for the weekend, probably spending alot of time outside playing our new CORNHOLE that Jason and Jordan made on Tuesday! It is awesome. However, due to a "document fire" in the backyard, (ask Jason for details, he was the mastermind behind this one) our playing field is somewhat limited, if you consider black ashes and charred grass to be dificult gaming conditions. *Note to self: do not let Jase become bored...crazy things happen!

That's all I have for now! Enjoy the weekend :)

Recently

It's been awhile. A long while. Here are some updates:

*Jase and I spent 2 weeks in Indiana for Christmas and a wedding, both of which were wonderful. It was absolutely awesome to spend time with family and friends. Sad to say goodbye, that never gets easy.

*I am almost done with my massage therapy program, only 7 weeks left. I really enjoy giving massage, seeing the positive benefits that it gives people makes it really worth it. I like knowing I am helping making a difference for someone through therapeutic touch. I have made some really great friends in my program, and know that lifelong relationships have been made possible because of it.

*Like usual, Jason is busy working on Jimmy John's "stuff," most recently the development of our second store. He is in the process of working out the lease, something that takes much longer than you might think. He does a great job of juggling all of his responsibilities without much stress; maybe he's just learned how to hide it from me so I don't wOrRy... as we all know I like to do so much.

*We've heard some amazing news that our friends Jordan & Jamie are moving less than 10 minutes from us at the beginning of March. We couldn't be more excited for them to get here so we have some friends from "home" to spend time with! Jamie and I spent alot of time together when we were very young, our dad's hunted together and we were born just 10 days apart. We have a friendship that has no trouble picking up where it was left off everytime we get together. Those friendships are the best, I think.

*We are very proud and encouraged by our best friends Jeremy & Nicole as they left a week ago to spend 9 months in Kenya doing missions at an orphanage. We were able to spend a good amount of time with them in December while we were in IN, and although sad that we won't see them for awhile, we couldn't be more sure that they have faitfully decided to follow God's amazing plan to take them halfway around the world. We love you guys!

It seems like everyday I am given new blessings and opportunities, and I couldn't be more thankful. God shows his grace in crazy ways, through things like the beautiful mountains and warm sun, to healing broken relationships that I wasn't sure could even be mended. I am encouraged because of these things, and know that there is more to come!

5 Months since my last post! Dang, I'm on fire! I barely remembered my login name for this blog.

Sorry so long, things have been kinda crazy so here we go! We recently made the long drive to Indiana for Dustin's graduation and open house weekend. It was so awesome to see friends and family and spend 5 whole days away from everything. We had a blast with our friends from Indy, and it definitely made coming back to Colorado very tough. The time went too fast, and it was sad to leave everyone again.

When we got back to Denver, we found out that things at our store weren't going as well as we would have liked. To make a long story short, we ended up having to let our General Manager go, so we have spent the last two weeks working quite a bit to make sure that things are going well and our store is set up for success. We have rearranged some people who have stepped up when we needed them the most, and they are doing wonderful as our new managers, exceeding our expectations. So while things were crazy for a week or so, things are falling into place. We are having our Grand Opening next weekend (seems strange after being open for 7 months, but that's how it's done). From 11-3 next Saturday, you can get a yummy sub for only a $1!! We are having flyers sent out to our area and have posted it in the paper, and are expecting a big turnout. We'll see.

We just celebrated our 2 year anniversary this week! However, with the craziness at the store, I worked all day and Jason worked all evening, so we barely saw each other. We did get to go to dinner and a movie later in the week, so that was fun. Tonight we are actually both home for a change, and we're excited to be able to just hang out. Jason's trying to talk me into going to a scary movie, but that's not going to happen!

I am so happy that my mom and Mike, Delanie and Mackenzie are coming out for the 4th of July! I am really looking forward to it. Even though we were just home to visit, it seems like much longer ago because of the crazy couple of weeks that we've had. So that should be really fun and give us a reason to work really hard now so we can have a few days off to spend with them.

I have decided to go back to school in August, just not exactly the "school" that I thought I might being going back for. I have applied to the Denver School of Massage Therapy and I start classes August 4th. I'm excited to try something new, and am really looking forward to it. I will graduate in March, and then hopefully find a job in a fabulous day spa! That is my goal, so we'll see what happens!