rocky mountain high!

So. The boyfriend and I took our first vacation together last week. We roadtripped it out to Greeley, CO, to stay with some friends of his who are basically a second family. To recap the week: 

I drove to maximize fuel economy, and he paid for gas and fed me Chex mix and cheese and crackers to save time. Basically we make a pretty awesome team.

We sat three rows behind home plate at a Rockies game and got all the free food we wanted, including mini corndogs, duck confit, cheddar poppers, buffalo wings, M&M's, poutine, roasted artichokes, haricots verts in a peppercorn cream sauce, ice cream sundaes, mini pizzas, gnocchi, and so much more. 

 We took a random drive through the mountains, chose a spot to park the car and start hiking, and now have our own magical hiking/picnic spot.

Nick made friends with a chipmunk. He wanted to see a whole bunch of wildlife, but in the end we had to settle for chipmunks and some other unknown rodent.

Together with our hosts we hiked 10 miles to the secluded Lake Ouzel, and we had a snowball fight there (for real).

And we were together non-stop for an entire week and we didn't even get sick of each other!

On my obsession with pencil skirts

A coworker turned me on to Polyvore. You know how I said I've been wearing weird stuff? This is the kind of stuff I meant. My current job has a pretty casual dress code, but when I like to look fancy, I wriggle my hips into a pencil skirt. Part mod, part Joan from Mad Men, all saucy.

And here's the look in action:

A customer asked me if I ever go on YouTube and post "What I'm wearing today" vids, or have a blog dedicated to that purpose. I told her no, but I guess I'm kind of looking for a new angle for this blog since I've toned down my traveling lately. Who knows? This could go from travel blog to lifestyle blog. I'm sorry I like attention.

she bang: the aftermath

So after I cut my own fringe, my whole world changed (pretty much). People started telling me I looked like Zooey Deschanel (duh), Carly Rae Jepsen, Jennifer Garner (more than before), a 'young professional,' and even the Virgin Mary. Oh, and my dear grandmother told me I looked like Morticia. Cool.

The new hair kind of changed my whole attitude. I started wearing weird headbands and barrettes in my hair. My wardrobe got bolder and more stripey. And I stopped caring about what people think of how I look.

I bought tickets back to Italy for the summer, but this time, I bought roundtrip tickets. And I'm only going for two months. Is this what growing up feels like?