A Year of Change

They say it’s going to snow tonight and tomorrow until about noon. I’m off to New York tomorrow so I’m staying at the airport in Denver tonight since I have an early flight and the weather is supposed to get a little precarious. Plus I’d rather not get up at 4 and we can always use some more Marriott miles.

Yesterday Lori and I managed to clean out our closet. This might not sound like much but it was a really big deal. You can now see the floor and even walk in it which is a major victory. The boys went skiing for a few hours and then Jag went to a movie with his friend Emile. Ty hung out with us playing with his friend in Denver on their video games.

That’s about it, I think Lori is going to try to go to the gym with me in 15 minutes or so, unless her back is too sore from cleaning. Hope you all are doing well, take care and God Bless.

Well yesterday woke up, showered and headed down to Cherry Creek for a few errands. One of our stops was Nordstrom to drop off two pair of shoes to get shinned. We then walked to the Polo Store to see what was on sale when much to our surprise, the whole store was going on sale. Liz, our friend and salesperson, confided in us that it wasn’t public yet, but they’re going out of business. March 16th they are gone are all out of a job. Yesterday morning they put everything in the store at least 50% off, some stuff more. So there we were, with the entire store being marked down. I had Lori start looking for dresses and practical pieces as at these prices, we had to look for her. A few hours later we headed over to Cherry Creek Grill for lunch with our friend Tina for lunch as we’re helping her with a big benefit event April 30th.

During lunch as we told her about the sale, she decided she had to go. We had to drive back over to pick up our shinned shoes so she rode with us and left her car on the street. Well an hour later, Tina had 2 armfulls of stuff too! I’m telling you, the deals are that good. She bought like $4000 worth of stuff for $1100! The women’s stuff was already getting picked over as women  are like vultures when there’s a sale, but the men’s side was still pretty good. When we dropped her off she called her husband Jeff and before we made it back to Vail she was texting Lori pictures of a big pile of stuff from the store Jeff bought as they went back again. Tommy, you should go down today, it’s so worth it. So, I found a pair of shoes marked down to $50 and a briefcase marked down 80%! The rest was for Lori, ha ha. Wish we had the money to spend as there home department with everything from sheets to bedding to furniture was on sale. There was this beautiful Audrey Hepburn like black and white light wool coat that fit Lori marked down from $3600 to $700! It was beautiful but not a necessity, plus $700 is a lot of money. We did really well getting Lori a bunch of stuff  for very little money.

The boys were home the entire time and did really well. We made it home by 5 or so and today will be cleaning out our closet going through old clothes and getting rid of them. It’s sunny and nice up here, not sure of the temperature but I have the sliding door open now at 7am. The boys are on their first Spring Break (they get two, one now and one at the end of April) so they’re both sleeping along with Mom. So that’s it, cleaning and sleeping. Tom, if you go to the Polo Store, you should get Mom some of her white shirts as they have them and tons of other stuff. GB

Yesterday morning I rushed down to the Denver Airport to Air Cargo to pick up some wine that I had flown in from Italy and then headed back up the hill. Then it was straight to pick up the boys from Ski Friday so they could go to the orthodontist and hair salon. I dropped Ty who ran into the the dentist and then took Jag across the street for a haircut. We then headed home so I could throw a change of clothes in a bag and wait for Lori. She arrived 30 minutes later and we then both jumped in the car and headed back to Denver. It took us two hours to get to our friends building on I-25 and Belleview. Their building has a guest suite that rents for $80 a night that they rented for us. It’s as nice as a hotel suite in the Ritz or something that would rent for $500 or more a night!

When we arrived they showed us to our suite and we dropped our bag and then all went to Del Frisco’s for dinner. This is a nice steak house in the Tech Center. We had a great dinner with our friends Jeannie, who we’ve known for over 10 years, and Michael, her new boyfriend of a year. They’re like two 18 years olds being a new couple who seem to have been searching for each other all their lives. Anyhow they’re going to Italy with us this summer and he’s never been. We gave them options of what they could do but they asked if they could just hang with us which we said would be just fine. So they’ll stay at Lorenzo’s family villa with us and we’ll show them around. Of course we’ll send them off on side trips on their own as we will also do with the boys, but we’ll all be together and go to the Bocelli concert on July 3oth.

This morning we’re going to do a little shopping before heading up the hill. The boys stayed home alone and did fine with Mojo. It’s going to be in the mid 60’s here in the city and the mid 40’s in Vail. We should be back up home by 2 or so. Hope all’s well, Michael and Jeannie say hi Robi and Robert! (they went to the Bocelli concert together in Phoenix last December) God Bless.

Yesterday they cancelled the school dance around 3pm and it was sunny and nice. This seemed odd but they said in the email that a severe snow/wind warning was in place. Sure enough a few hours later it was raining sideways. This soon turned to snow and lasted a few hours. I guess they were worried about about the drifts. Anyhow none of the kids were excited about the dance anyhow.

Today I might make two trips to Denver. One to the airport to get some samples that arrived from Italy and the second with Lori to spend the night with friends tonight to go over our trip accommodations for our trip to Italy this summer. The boys have asked to stay home alone which we’re ok with. I bought them some fun food like pizza for dinner. They’ll be fine and Mojo will be thrilled.

Guess I’ll run, hope all is well. Wish I could take a 8 month vacation to avoid all the political ads, Hillary’s is the worst. Her voice makes everyone (all four of us) cringe. Oh and by the way, Obama will be the first Pres in over 60 years not to attend the Supreme Court Justices funeral so he can go golfing, nice. God Bless.

I’m off to Denver by 6:45, Lori has to be at work by 6:45 and the boys will be dropped at school at 7. Tonight Jag has a school dance. He really doesn’t want to go but I guess they all have to. It’s an Italian dinner/dance the teachers are putting on but of course all the kids think it’s lame. I need to see if I can get him some pants today in Denver as his are 6 inches too short!

So Lori is in the shower and the kids will be up soon. it’s 5:36 now and time to run, sorry for the short post, hope all’s well, GB

Well we haven’t talked much about Mojo. Turns out he’s doing really well. He heels, sits and comes on command and can even be off leash. He also now isn’t aggressive towards other dogs. The trick was to get his attention and using a calm steady voice when giving him commands. Looks like it was a good thing sending him to Mark for a week. He’ll go back to their house for a refresher course for a couple of days probably next week. When we picked him up he was off leash with a pit bull and he did just what he was supposed to which was ignore the pit bull and follow commands. He seemed to enjoy his stay but is glad to be home, so he says in doggie language.

Today I have lots of computer work before heading to some accounts down the hill tomorrow. Friday we’re all going to Denver and spending the night in a suite in a building where some friends of ours live. Turns out it’s next door to the Head Coach of the Broncos! they’re going to Italy with us this summer and we’re planning out our trip. Then Saturday we’ll be back up as we have a 70’s apres ski birthday party to go to.

Guess I’ll get Lori moving as it’s 6am. Hope all’s well, GB

This morning I need to pick up some samples at the warehouse for Jody (who works for me) who is flying in for a meeting with a national account. Then a couple of stops later, including my Mom’s, and I’ll head back up the hill. Lori needs to be at work early and the boys at school early too. I must have washed 5 loads of laundry yesterday trying to catch up. It’s nice up here but Florida sure was green. Everything everywhere was growing and green. It’ll be a few months before we see any of that. In any case, no way we could live down there. Too many people, and it’s just so flat!

Guess I’ll run so I can get everyone moving. it’s 5:20 and just me and the pup are up. Hope all’s well, it’s scary out there economy wise. Too bad Justice Scalia died. Obummer is going to try to push through a liberal but the repubs will never let that happen with 11 months left. Hold onto your hats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, God Bless.

After a long, and I mean long day, we are all home safe. We we’re so tired I think I fell asleep at 6:30pm and just woke up at 5am. After landing in Denver at 10, we drove up the hill after stopping at Grandma’s and then Tokyo Joe’s for lunch. Then Lori and I headed to Eagle to pick up Mojo and stop at Costco. Mojo is doing well and we went through a mini training course to learn how to best communicate with him. Turns out a lot of the issue was us! Apparently we needed to go to doggie owner training too. He did learn a lot though and is doing well.

Today we’re all back at it. Lots of laundry, work and school. It snowed yesterday and we barely made it over the pass. I’m supposed to go to Dallas this week but it looks like that’ll be cancelled. I am in NY next week. Guess I’ll run, hope all’s well, God Bless.

Well, we’re at the airport and our flight leaves in about an hour. Last night the concert was amazing as always. No matter how many times Lori and I see Andrea, it’s always like seeing him for the first time. But let’s back up a bit.

We started out the day by going to meet Lori’s half sister which she’d never met. We showed up to a small house and heard the vacuum running. Alexis came to the door with a 2 and 4 year old hanging off of her looking a bit hurried. Anyhow we visited for 45 minutes or so and talked about things in general, mostly about her life. It was a good visit, being the first time they met.

We then headed back to the house but had to stop to buy an couple pair of headphones for the flight home. Around noon, once we were back, our hostess insisted we get our swim suits on and head across the golf course to the pool and club for lunch. The boys and I swam while Lori laid out in the 80 degree sun. We had some lunch and then 2 hours later walked back to the house to get ready for the show. Around 4:15 we left for the Hard Rock where we had dinner at Bongo’s which is Gloria Estafan’s cuban restaurant. I ran over to get the backstage passes while everyone ordered some drinks. 2 hours later after dinner, we all headed to the show. As I said, it was amazing. The crowd was older (being Miami) and after the show I hustled everyone backstage for a quick meet and greet and photo with Andrea. Veronica (his wife) was very glad to see us as usual, as Lori and I have a really good relationship with her. Anyhow, 2 minutes later we were done and on the way home. We made it back to the house at midnight and tried to go to sleep knowing we’d be getting up at 4:30 which is 2:30 Denver time. And that’s how we’re here. 5 hours from now we should be in Denver and then will head up the hill to home. It was a great time and we probably did 2 weeks worth of stuff in 4 days, as that’s how we roll! God Bless.

We rolled in around 12:30 and our friends were off on their boat so we unloaded the car and the boys hit the pool. After an hour we headed out to explore. We made our way up to Delray Beach as I has stayed in a Marriott there years ago when Mitt Romney was staying there running for President, wish he would have won! Anyhow we walked for miles up and down Atlantic Avenue to the beach and back. After the kids took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean, which is much nicer than the Gulf of Mexico, we headed back to get ready for dinner. Our friends still were not home from boating. We then headed out to dinner until around 9:30 and came back thinking they were asleep so we headed to bed. Then they arrived home so up we were visiting again for a few minutes. Around 11 we headed to bed and slept until 7.

Today we have a bunch to do, the beach, the Renaissance Fair, meet Lori’s sister and then dinner at 5:30 before the concert. We’ll get home around midnight if we’re lucky and then will be up at 4:30 for our 7:30 flight. So time to run, hope all’s well, God Bless.