A Year of Change

Today at 11, we have our lunch with Ava’s parents and the kids. Should be fun. Yesterday after my call, Lori and I headed over to Basalt for some groceries and some last minute shopping. The first store we went in to was a nice little shop, but some things were expensive. When I walked in I noticed this lady shopping too and thought she looked a little familiar. I kept shopping and when we were checking out, I was standing next to her, and it came to me. It was Goldie Hawn. As soon as I walked out of the store, there was Kurt Russell, talking away on his phone. We put our stuff in our car and headed to another store, and there again was Goldie, ha. Kurt was still pacing back and forth outside on the phone. Lori said, I think I’ll ask him to do a Christmas Chronicles 3!

They live in Basalt and have had a home there for 20 some years. Now if we would have run into Goldie’s daughter, Kate, that would have been something. after stopping at a couple more little local stores, we headed into Whole Foods for groceries. Finally around 2, we made it home.

Ty’s off to work already and is off tomorrow to go to the game, and then I think back at work Monday. We’re looking forward to seeing Jag and Ava today. Julie and Andre are fun too.

Looks like the wind is still blowing on the front range. Tom’s neighborhood has been without power for most of the past 3 or 4 days, but he has a generator that kicks in right away, so he’s been fine.

My buddy invited me to the game tomorrow, but I don’t think I’m up for the drive down again two days in a row. I’m excited for the boys though. Green Bay plays Chicago tonight and of course this week, I want the Packers to win.

6:30 am now, time to get moving so we can be on the road in an hour. Five days to go until Christmas! We’re still waiting on some things to arrive. Hope they get here in time. God Bless and Go Broncos!

Big day, Tom is 65! WOW! Medicare, social security and a bunch of senior discounts are now yours! You’re officially an old man. Wonder what that makes me, hmmm.

I have a call with Italy this morning at 9 and then Lori and I are headed to Glenwood or Carbondale for some last-minute shopping. My buddy Gareth, who sold his event company for around $80 million, is up until Christmas at his place he owns at the Westin. He invited me to go down for the Broncos game Sunday, (the boys have my tickets), so I might go. We’re going to hang out at his place today in the 55-degree weather for a bit.

More strong winds in Denver today. Looks nice tomorrow when we’re down for lunch with Jag and Ava and her parents. It’s an early lunch, 11am, so we should be on the road to Denver by 8:30 or so.

Ty’s off to work. Not sure if we’ll make the gym this morning with my call at 9. It’s 6:20 am now so I think we have time. Have a great day, not long now until Christmas, God Bless.

Lots of homes without power down in Denver. Winds topped 100 miles an hour! Not sure if Tom’s power is out or not. At least he has a generator. I ended up not going to Denver with all the wind as we’ll see Jag and Ava on Saturday. It was a little windy up here but nothing like down there. The news is showing trees down and stuff strewn all over the roads in the city. Looks like it might stick around for a few days.

Jagger had a great birthday. Ava came home early, and they went to Cholon for some food, and then had friends over last night. We facetimed with them so we could watch him open some presents. Ty is off today so he went to hang out with some friends last night. Think he’s going boarding on the mountain today.

It looks warm for the next 10 days, maybe the rest of the year. We’re fine with that, as the snow and cold will come, it always does. For now, we love having dry roads.

5:45am now. We have some presents to wrap for the boys today and a few more things to get. Maybe we’ll run to Glenwood today, we’ll see. Have a great day, Tom’s birthday is tomorrow. He’ll be the big 65! Big game this weekend too. They’re all big at this time of the year. Go Broncos and God Bless.

Today Jagger is 24 years old! Hard to believe. We’re so proud of him. Both boys are just incredible young men. I was headed down to Denver to have lunch with him, but really high winds and power outages are coming today, so I’ll skip it. We will see him on Saturday when we go down for lunch with Ava and her parents. We gave Jag a bunch of presents last weekend so he has some stuff to open. Happy Birthday Son! We love you!

Lori works in Vail today and I’ll get some more computer work done. Tomorrow, I have a meeting at 10am and then am open. Ty worked until 11 or so last night and is already out the door at 6:20 this morning, headed back to the restaurant.

Lori is feeling better but does have a sore neck. Dr. B said it’ll take at least 8 weeks, probably 12, for things to settle down. All things considering, it was a great success.

That’s it for the day, one week and it’ll be Christmas Eve! God Bless.

Playoffs, did you say playoffs! Yup, the Denver Broncos are in the playoffs. How do I know? Well, I got a $2445 invoice this morning for playoff tickets. I think that’s for two games, it’s hard to tell. Tickets are already going for $1000 and up for each ticket online for any game. No way we’d sell though, we’ll be there, the whole family!

Lots of bad shit going on the past few days. The shooting of a couple young kids who were part of the Young Republican Club at Brown University, the mass shooting by Isis at a Hanukah event in Australia, (and the PM is blaming right wing extremists, right), and Rob Reiner and his wife being killed by their own son. Throw in the assorted gang killings and robberies in any major city run by Dems, and it’s just another day. Pretty messed up out there these days.

Ty worked a party last night and was home after 11. The Nuggets won a thriller in overtime and Lori and I hung out after she made it home from work around 5. She’s gone already as Tiffany had to fly to Florida as her husband’s grandpa passed away.

Jag’s birthday tomorrow. I’m running down to take him to lunch. I’m pretty much done with my shopping. We need some stocking stuffers but that’s about it. Not long now until Christmas.

Time to get moving and head out to the gym. Have a great day, hang tough, be kind and God Bless.

No one gave us a chance. We were 2.5-point underdogs at home, and we had 2 more wins than the visiting Green Bay Packers. But in the end, as we’ve done all year, we came out on top. This morning the Denver Broncos sit alone at the top of the NFL with 12 wins. In fact, we’re 4 plays away from being undefeated. It was a great game, and a great day to be a Bronco fan! The national tv shows are still showing little love to the Broncos, which is typical. But that’s ok, we’ll keep playing the role of underdog. After the game, a sideline reporter asked our quarterback what he thought about us being 2.5 underdogs against the Packers, and he replied saying, I guess we’re overdogs! Classic.

Ty and I watched the second half together as he and his buddies were out the night before (I think they pulled an all nighter) and he slept through the first half. We then watched the Dallas game too. Lori was watching some chick flick in the bedroom.

Yesterday we both went to the gym in the morning. Lori feels fine this morning and will be off to work in an hour or so. I have a lot of calls before my 10am conference call. I just finished a 6am call with my Partner in Atlanta and tried to reach a producer in France. After my call at 10, I have one more and then am done for the day, except for a lot of computer work.

I did wrap most of Lori’s presents yesterday. I have a few more to wrap up today! (see how I did that, ha)

Jagger’s birthday is Wednesday! 24 years old, wow. They had a blast at the game yesterday. I think I’m going down to have lunch with him for his birthday.

Have a great day! Enjoy the season while it’s here, God Bless and Go Broncos!

Lori and I were on the road by 7:45 am. We made it to Cherry Creek Mall right at 10. There was a line of 30 or more cars waiting to get in to the parking garage. We hit a few stores and picked up some little things and then walked over to Neiman’s for some makeup for Lori. Upstairs we ran into Liz, who we’ve known for 20 years. Her husband Chris ran Ralph Lauren in Aspen after running the one in Cherry Creek for years. He’s a good guy that always helped me out.

Lori wanted to get a few ornaments for the kids as after lunch they were getting their Christmas tree. Liz manages the designer department and specifically Bruno Cuccinelli. Everything in the store was on sale up to 60% off, except of course, Bruno Cuccinelli. Lori found a sweater she loved but it was over the top expensive. I would have bought it for her but she said that’s a big no as we could buy a plane ticket to Europe for what it costs. It was insanely expensive but as I told her, if you’re going to wear it and love it for the next 10 or 15 years, as a signature piece, then the cost averages out. Besides, Lori never asks for anything and is pretty frugal. It was nice though. I can’t believe the cost of some of the things in that department. This one coat was $18,000! It was beautiful, but $18,000, come on. Other swearers were $8 to $10K! Ridiculous, but they were all beautiful and made in Italy. At one point, Lori said she’s allergic to angora or something the sweater was made of, as her eyes were itching. I think she was itching because she was in the makeup/perfume department, and we all know she’s allergic to perfume of any kind.

Next we headed to Cherry Creek North to check out the little independent stores. We walked into a cool knife shop from Jackson Hole Wyoming. We bought a few presents there and walked around some more until lunch at 1pm at Le Marais, a great French restaurant. The kids showed up 15 minutes after we arrived and we had a great lunch with champagne and French cuisine. After lunch we all drove over to the kids apartment and then walked over to Little Man Ice Cream, (best ice cream ever) where they had a tree market, to shop for a Christmas tree. Lori and I got some white chocolate, candy cane ice cream while the kids picked out their first Christmas tree for their first apartment. When Ava saw it, we got her one too as it’s her favorite flavor. I insisted they let us pay for the tree, and then we bundled it up in netting and Jag and I carried it back three blocks or so, to their apartment.

They’re so cute!

Carrying the tree back! I took the “non sappy” end! Smart dad!

The kids tree in their apartment! Looking good!

After we left, the kids headed out to find a tree stand, which took over an hour and a trip to multiple stores as everyone was out. They ended up finding one in Broomfield. Ava tied a bow on top pf the tree (not in this pic) as they didn’t have a star.

On the way up the hill, Ty called as he had a big concert in Vail last night. With little snow, we found him a studio hotel room, at a really good deal, at Manor Vail so he and his buddy from Denver and his girlfriend, could stay in Vail and not drive after partying. He’ll be home around noon I’d guess.

Meanwhile Jagger and Ava and two friends, are going to the big Broncos Packer, game. If we win this, it’ll be great. I think we’re going to win, hope I’m right!

Lori and I are headed to the gym this morning. She needs to take it really easy as it’s her first day back. I’ll be watching her like a hawk!

That’s it, have a great day, Go Broncos and God Bless.

Today Lori and I are wrapping up, hopefully, most of our shopping. We need to get the kids a few small things. Next week is the last full week before Christmas! Ty’s off to work as we sit here at 6:30. He’s had a long week with long hours.

Yesterday I worked all day long. Between you and me, I’m getting a little burned out. I can use a break. For me to get burned out is saying something as I make my own schedule and can take off when I want. Problem is, I have so many things happening, I have to just keep going and going.

Jag and Ava went to Winter Park yesterday after work with some friends. They’ll be back this morning and we’re all having lunch at a French restaurant around 1 after we do our shopping. Monday we’re sending out Robi and Bobby’s presents.

Big game tomorrow. Jag, Ava and a couple friends are going. Next week, Jag and Ty are going. Still nice and mild up here. Looks to stay that way through next week with maybe a little snow in the mountains next Thursday. I know we always need the water, but it sure is nice. I was thinking the other day, how nice it’d be if it stayed warm with little snow all winter. We’d suffer in the summer, or should I say Arizona and California would suffer, as they steal our water from the Colorado River.

That’s it for today. Time to get moving. Have a great day, God Bless.

The twelve days of Christmas are here! When we were kids, starting today, you’d put your shoe outside your bedroom door at night. In the morning, it’d be filled with a small gift or some candy, unless you were bad, and then you might get a stick or a lump of coal! We did this for the next 12 days. We did it for the boys too. It was the official countdown to Christmas which is right around the corner.

Tomorrow we’re headed to Denver to get in some last-minute shopping. Ty worked a party last night. He was bummed as it was for the Democrats of Eagle County. Not a lot of people showed up. He said the group discussed how to counter the Turning Point thing and Charlie Kirk. He didn’t like working it. He’s already gone to work today and works again tomorrow.

I have a call at 9 and one at 10. I ran to Costco yesterday afternoon after our early afternoon cigar get together. With the sun going down early these days, and us going to Marks, which is in Arrowhead right up against the mountain, it gets cold pretty quick in the shade. His backyard, where we hang out, is in the shade by 2pm! Five of us made it yesterday.

I need to make a decision on whether or not to make reservations for Wine Paris the first of February. If I don’t go, I’ll have to go to Italy a month or so later. Waiting to see what customers are going and if I have my new chain salespeople in place by then. Plus, it starts the day after the Super Bowl. If the Broncos are by chance in it, I’ll probably be going to that instead. We’ll see how the next few weeks go.

Warm outside. It’s been a really nice and mild start to winter. We love it! We’re ok if it doesn’t snow at all, but we do need the water. I need to get moving and get on the road to the gym. It’s also trash day. Have a great Friday, only two Friday’s left in the year! Surreal. God Bless.

Got a lot done yesterday in Denver. The highlight was having lunch with Jagger. Always great to see him. Meanwhile, Ty worked 15 and a half hours yesterday! We didn’t know he had an event last night. He’s off today until 4, when he goes to work another private event.

At 4, I went to see Dr. Seibert again. This time he put some hydrogen peroxide in my ear and then sucked it all out after it soaked for a few minutes as apparently I had a small scab on my ear drum. It’s still early, but last night and so far today, my ear feels unplugged! Sure hope that was it, as even though it was getting better, it was annoying.

I need to wrap some presents today. Robi’s came yesterday. I’m getting nervous as a few we ordered on line haven’t showed up yet.

Lori had another virtual post op appointment yesterday, and she says she can go to the gym and do Pilates leg exercises. I’m skeptical, but she’s not much of a liar, and when she does, she has a tell, so I always know. All you have to do is look at her directly in the eyes and ask her, and if she’s lying, she’ll start laughing. It’s pretty funny, and cute.

Phoebe fixed my hair yesterday, which she screwed up a week earlier. In typical Phoebe style, she said, “well, that’s the last time I listen to you” meaning she was blaming me, ha. I just laughed and said, “yup, don’t listen to me anymore”. She never thinks anything is her fault. Jag said, “why don’t you just stop going to her”? Smart kid, but I’ve been going to Phoebe for 25 years and 9 out of 10 times she gives me a great haircut. Lori thinks she’s on Adderall or cocaine sometimes, ha. Anyhow, she’s like family, and now I look great!

Warm outside. Looks like 50’s and 60’s in Denver for at least the next ten days. It’s already 60 in Boulder right now at 6:48 in the morning. It was actually colder in Denver yesterday morning at 8am than it was up here.

Two weeks until Christmas! Jag and Ava will be with us, along with Ty. I found Lori a present yesterday and myself a new pair of Chelsea boots from the maker of the ones that Ty confiscated from me. They’re not cheap, but handmade and super comfortable and will last probably longer than me. That’s a scary thought!

Have a great day, be well, stay safe and God Bless.