buttons on the coat

My excitement is getting hard to contain. We leave for Baltimore on Wed and will have a whole week to play with the cutest nephew ever, visit DC (hopefully more than once!), go on a brewery tour and get a lot of down time with Kevs bother and sister-in-law. It will be so much fun and I cannot forget to take pictures!

It's a funny thing that when I travel to big cities or international destinations such as Greece, England and France, I like to switch up my day-today attire. You see, I live in the mountains where everyday I have two options, scrubs or Patagonia. Don't get me wrong, I love these options with all my heart but I also love an excuse to wear my other clothes that only get wear-time twice a year. Take my example of the peacoat. If I wore this around the mountains, not only would it get filthy but people would think I am a tourist and charge me more for my meal (locals get a discount almost everywhere). Tonight I got out the old jacket and just to prove to you where she's been, here are some pictures! I can't wait to compare almost 4 years later and see how I have changed.

You never really noticed how you've changed b/c your wardrobe is changing but not this time... same coat, different Meg.

[Pea Coat of 2008]

I hope it's as wonderful now as it was back then! Ohh and the love of scarfs. I don't wear enough.

Westminster Abby

arc de triomphe

on top of the Eiffel Tower

[Totally Stoked 2012]

Kids, don't play with elk

The husband and I witnessed something kinda hilarious this past weekend. Here is a video of a crazy male elk outside our front window. This is about as exciting as it gets outside our front door. We live in Estes Park where the median age is 55 years old... Hard to believe. It's practically Florida! Anyways, this little movie might just entertain you. It sure gave us a laugh. 

*It is viewed better from youtube.com

Have a good weekend folks! We are gearing up for our trip to Baltimore!! Cannot wait! Cheers!

Mama once told me...

Did anyone have a mom like mine? She tried to teach me how to sew for what seems like my entire childhood. Did I listen? NO. I was way too cool for sewing. Who sews these days? Don't you hire someone for that?

Ohh my naive ways have caught up with me because I LOVE IT! Thats correct folks, I love sewing. Sure, it takes time and energy and I kinda feel like an engineer calculating different dimensions, etc. Let me tell you a little story.

Almost a year ago, my grandma gifted me with her Featherweight Singer. It is a beauty. One glance and inspiration comes effortlessly. However, in that same glance, I get intimidated. Since I never listened to my mom, I hardly knew the basics of sewing and a vintage machine, well forget about it! My poor roommates from last spring can attest to this. I would see awesome dresses at goodwill that needed a little tweeking. All excited I would rush home and then just stare at the machine... I totally expected it to do all the work.

We recently brought the machine back with us to Colorado because once again, I was feeling inspiration. Well people, I did it! I opened the box and started sewing. I had some bumps along the way but I got results! I saw this awesome fabric at a thrift store for 54 cents and made napkins! No more trash from our napkins! The best part is, once I got the hang of it, sewing was easy!! I even called my mom for advice!

I know it might be silly. Everyone can sew napkins. It's 4 straight lines but the point is that I did it. No more "sewing machine intimidation" for me!! Yippee! MOM- I am growing up!!

[masterpieces]

I am feeling creative and since I only work 3 days a week, this is going to be a new hobby!

No on is Perfect, right?

Oups. Hey everyone. I have never been one for the english language and writing it is no different. As many of you likely notice, my grammar isn't the best. I apologize. I do normally type like I talk. but... I try to at least proof read my posts. 

You may have noticed that when discussing the single-serve brownie a few posts ago, I said it was delicious but then I said it was disgusting. I meant to type, "it wasn't even disgusting". To be honest, I was nervous that it might taste like chocolate shoestrings. I was shocked! You should try it. 

Just an FYI. I didn't mean to contradict myself. Cheers!

my husband is a beer lover

Seth came to visit us this weekend. I worked Friday and Saturday night and by the grace of God, was able to get off on Sunday night so we could all hang out! It was so much fun! 

Kevin and Seth had planned on a New Belgium Tour (you might remember, we went there a few months ago. you can see all about it here).Well, as fate would have it, we got a snow storm and on their way to the valley, the discovered all roads leaving Estes were closed! YAY! That meant I got to come with on Sunday but New Belgium doesn't do Sunday tours.  No worry, we found some other breweries we were itching to tour. We picked up our friends Dan and Kristen on our way. We first went to Left Hand Brewing Co and then to Oscar Blues. Both of these are in Longmont and started by home brewers. 

Who knows, maybe one day Kev will start his own Brewery with all his home brewing finds! Take a look at the fun we had! 

[Left Hand Brewing Company]

Their most popular beer right no is the Milk Stout.  A darker, almost sweet beer. 

And it now comes with Nitro. The air bubbles are smaller which makes it a smooth beer, almost like a Guinness. 

If you get the chance, try it! 

[Oscar Blues Brewery]

This Brewery started just 30 minutes from Estes in a tiny town called Lyons. They were the first Microbrew to can their 

beer. And then inspired the founders of SunKing to start canning. Every beer has a unique name and it's pretty cool how they came up with them. yumyum. I love their Gubna and G'Knight. 

This week Kev starts his side job doing promotional type work for Maui Jims. An awesome Sunglass Company and the best part is, all he does is snowboard all day on the mountain and pass out lays. Did I mention they are refunding his entire season pass, giving him a pair of Sunglasses and maybe goggles and paying him. What a deal. 

Have a great week everyone! Here's to Mondays!

Truth

So sorry for all of you who follow this blog and will now have so much catching up to do. It's weird. Since I haven't blogged in what seems likes months, I have all these things to talk about. Just be glad you aren't kevin right now who has to listen to me blabber on and on. But look what I found.

I found it here

If you are looking for a new year resolutions. heres a good one for us all. it harder than it seems but it will be a goal of mine. well, of ours (the Pulas). Save.Save.Save.Spend.

Be free from debt and worry. found at the same place as above.

2012- Just you wait

I can hardly believe it's two thousand and twelve! I have to say, 2011 was such a good year, it will be hard to top but I already feel like this year will be equally awesome or even better! I know, such a crazy thought but I really hope my instincts are right on this one. Then again, happiness is a frame of mind. Don't take this personally, I know a lot of people make new years resolutions but not me. I don't believe in them. I think, just do it today. Start today. What if tomorrow never comes and you die thinking about what you were gonna start in 2012. Hey, for some it works. It doesn't do the trick for me!! For me, I cannot wait to finish the books I start and learn to eat more like a vegan. Kev and I are planning a big trip this year. We can't wait and we have some pretty smokin ideas but you'll have to wait until later on the details. Lets just say, it involves something that we've never done!

Speaking of eating more like a vegan (that just means less meat and dairy folks, nothing crazy), we were gifted this awesome book for Christmas, Happy Herbivore. We discovered this book while watching the documentary Forks over Knives. This film discusses the China Study and other ideas for healing diseases. It was an awesome movie (in my opnion). Thank you Netflix. From that moment on, we decided to be a little bit more conscious about our food choices. Don't worry folks, I still bake and use butter but just not as much. And so far, I am okay with that. It basically means we eat lots of veggies and beans, grains and rice and the most delicious soups yet.

Do you see this brownie above. It came from the book and I figured I would share incase some of you are feeling adventurous.

Single Serving Brownie

Ingredients:

2 tbsp organic whole-wheat pastry flour (good for bread and such too), 1 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa, dash ground cinnamon,

small pinch baking powder, 1 tbsp agave nectar, 1 generous tbsp unsweetened applesauce,

1 tsp unsweetened dairy milk ( i used almond but surely normal milk works too), 

1-2 drops of vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 ( I used our toaster oven and it worked perfectly!)

2. Grease single muffin tin and set aside (I used a 1cup measuring spoon, way easier to clean and come on, this brownie is only for one. No need to get all the other muffin cups involved.)

3. I mixed everything together and popped it in for 15-20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. I also added some butterscotch chips cause they are so delicious. 

It was pretty good. It makes only one so no brownie pan tempting you for days and its low fat. 191 calories for the whole things and it was a big brownie. And only 18 calories from fat. My first bite, I could tell it wasn't a normal brownie but I was disgusted and the consistency was gooey. And it wasn't dry. Enjoy. 

Did I mention it was 60 degrees and sunny today. Such the perfect day. Can't wait for visitors!! 

Heres to 2012 rocking our socks off and going down in the history books. Cheers to completing your resolutions!! Best of Luck!

Colorado is home.

Isn't it funny when you grow up and establish yourself somewhere else, how your old home isn't the same. Don't take this the wrong way, especially my parents. I love going home and seeing old friends and familiar places but when the husband and I arrived to Estes from our week long trip back to the midwest, we felt like we were home. To sleep in our own home and be surrounded by such beauty, it's just funny. I never thought my feelings about home would change so quickly.

Our trip to the midwest was wonderful. Besides the long drives to and from, it was relaxing filled with lots of games, friends, family and even babies... We stopped in Peoria for a few days. We played lots of Settlers of Catan, celebrated Joys birthday, baked the most delicious cookies ever and went to a New year eve eve party. That was a blast!

Then we drove the 4 hours to Indiana! There we also played lots of Catan and mexican train dominos, visited with camp friends and best friends but there is never enough time! Did I mention all the baby time we got! My best friend Tori had her lovely baby boy, Jameson, in November and we finally got to meet him!! He is precious. We spent lots of time with him.

We also saw our grandmas and were blessed with Christmas presents from our family! We are so lucky.

[take a look below]

look at this face. it's hard to believe but he didn't even make a peep on our 20 hour car rides.
he slept.  he loves his car hammock.

Can you believe Nick and Kev have been BFF since they were kiddos. so cute.

Criag and Meg had a New Years Eve Eve party.  A great excuse to drink and be merry. Dunlap love.

girls girls girls. Meg is on the right.  a wonderful host.

Our game playing abilities got better on the trip. 

Grandma Balkema making funny faces. 

Monon Food Company Groupon. Chipotle fish tacos are the bomb!! We miss Kass and Jake!

We decided to meet for breakfast! So good to see familiar faces!

Meeting Jameson for the first time. And him at Breakfast. He sure is a cheap date- all he did was sleep! 

on our last day of leaving, I got my hair chopped.

as we were approaching the rockies. so pretty

Kevin once told me, as a child, his mom would buy them bingo tickets on road trips to entertain. What a genesis idea. I decided to surprise kev and buy two at a gas station. OMG we actually made money. From that moment on, we vowed that on road trips, in every state, we will buy bingo lottery tickets and then repeat. We made twenty dollars that we didn't have before... awesome. and excitement kept us awake.