Have: Wardrobe Staples

There are a few pieces every lady should have in their wardrobe:

Jeans, well fitting skinny jeans and a bootcut.

 I love my Joe's Jeans bootcut, and Ben Sherman skinnies.

Black dress pants. I'm loving the J.Crew Minnie Pant- and the tan are perfect chinos.

Pencil skirts, black is a easy choice, but a colorful print or solid can pack a lot of punch into a wardrobe.

Oxford button-downs. Love the soft cotton ones from RL Rugby. Too bad they are going out of business!

Wrap dress. The dress that made Diane Von Furstenberg. They go with anything, are super comfortable and transition easily from the office to cocktails.

LBD
Whatever the shape that fits you best, you can never have enough little black dresses

Cashmere sweaters. In as many colors as you desire, v-neck or crew. I love J.Crew's Cambridge Cable sweaters- they come in both crew and v-neck. 

Black cardigan
I actually have a cardigan addiction- I have 3 black cardigans, and a rainbow of other colors.  So why do I pick black? It goes with everything (expect navy).

Navy blazer. A classic school-boy blazer goes well with both casual and dressy occasions. They look great thrown over a dress.

Leather belts. Make sure they are well made in a nice leather. You should have one in black and one in brown.

Trench coat. Think Burberry styling. I have one from London Fog with a cashmere liner that I love.

Peacoat. No matter where you live, this is perfect for winter. 

Riding boots. The Classic Equestrian style (think Ralph Lauren and Burberry) never goes out of style. It is classic and timeless and always perfect for fall.

CFMN boots. Black boots that say Come F*ck Me Now. Sexy and practical.

Black ballet flats. Always and forever. I wear through them so quick that I might as well buy these Old Navy ones in bulk.

A Day in the Garden

A few blocks southeast from our new apartment is Cheesman Park in the heart of Capitol Hill.

Cheesman is gorgeous with a nice running park and lots of green space. It even has a picture perfect neoclassical pavilion surrounded by a rose garden.

This part Saturday I treated myself to a nice day in the park while G was entertaining his brother who flew into town.

I met this guy (see above squirrel) who was none to happy about me hanging out near his tree. After running around the park I stopped by Cheesman's neighbor, the Denver Botanical Gardens.

The gardens are so much nicer than I thought they would be! It only costs $12.50 for a whole day in the different gardens.

Some of my favorite garden shots:

Very Provencial! Feeling like Southern France

Polka dotted orchids!

This is in the tropical conservatory. Reminds me of Swiss Family Robinson!

I've always loved clematises!

At the end of the day I decided I wanted to come back as the season's change so I stopped by the visitor's office and asked about membership options. It turned out that they had a special that day, so if you had already paid for admission they took that place an additional amount of time off the membership costs. I ended up getting a membership for 2 for only $45 ($20 off the list price)!

If I go by myself just 3 more times I pay it off! If I drag G, it pays for itself in even less trips!
I also got a free pass to go to the Garden's CORN MAZE near Littleton. I dragged G and my cousin out for the adventure:

We managed to finish the maze in under an hour! Such winners! We celebrated with burgers afterwards.

Things I learned:

1) I'm really excited to watch the leaves turn colors at the park
2) I'm never bringing kids to a full size corn maze. Disaster waiting to happen.
3) My younger cousin is pretty awesome
4) Squirrels are very possessive of their trees
5) I want a tropical conservatory in my home, complete with tree house, stat

Take me back to Mystic

Right before we left New England for the Rocky Mountains, we did a very quintessential New England thing... 

We took a road trip to the Connecticut coast and loaded up on lobster (lobstah) rolls.

After our 100 mile journey we found ourselves at Abbotts in the Rough in Noank, Connecticut which is just due west of Mystic (y'know famous for that movie with Julia Roberts and pizza).

The evening was perfect.

I've been

very busy, and thus a bad blogger.

In the past month I've:

Quit my job

Moved to corporate housing in Denver, CO

Attended a beautiful wedding in Houston, Texas

Flown back to Massachusetts to pack up my old apartment

Moved to a real apartment on Capitol Hill in Denver

Job searched and interviewed

And explored the city by foot

Here are my snapshots:

Date night in Denver!

New favorite bistro

job hunting

Groom's cake!

First dance

Missing Texas

Packing

The Cape!

Our last weekend in Massachusetts was appropriately spent at one of the first landing spots of the Pilgrims: Cape Cod! 

The weather wasn't the best - lots of coastal rain- but it was still plenty warm! We managed to go swimming and floating in the ocean... it wasn't nearly as cold as the Pacific off of Washington and Oregon :)

 I loved all the little shops- especially the high-end interior design ones. I wish I had a little beach cottage I could decorate! We did manage to avoid going into a single tourist-trap t-shirt shop, unlike all the bars we managed to visit. I did sneak into Marc Jacobs and snagged a cute necklace!

Wave Video Bar- I had a blast dancing and watching the videos... Grant didn't so much. I wouldn't recommend this place unless you're okay getting up close and sweaty with a bunch of men.
Harbor Lounge- Best ocean view of all the bars. Both nights we were here it was pretty dead- which just meant more room on the couches for us.
Aqua Bar- has a great view of the harbor, cheap drinks, and is open air for those nice balmy, breezy nights.
Shipwreck Lounge at Brass Key- great outdoor seating area, and a resident cat, need I say more?
Old Colony Tap House- this bar looks like the dingy, forgotten basement of your ex-sailor grandfather. The floor is tilted, the tables is dirty, it is all charm. This was also our favorite place.

The last day in town the skies cleared, the sun came out, and the weather we should have had arrived! We took the Trolley car tour around town before taking off of the Ferry towards Boston.

FYI: I highly recommend taking the ferry from Boston instead of driving (to avoid all the traffic) and staying at Romeo's Holiday, where Stan & Lenny make great hosts!

Road Trip!

We made it from Massachusetts to Colorado in under 3 days! Sorry this is so late, I've been exploring our new neighborhood (even though it's temporary) and hunting for jobs.

Mass -> Niagara Falls

One last time on the Mass Pike!

Niagara Falls! The Maid of the Mist ride was so worth it!

Niagara Falls -> Chicago

Reggie enjoying the hotel bed in NY

Somewhere in Indiana!

The BEAN aka Stormgate or something.

We went really early on a weekday so no one was there...

Chicago -> Denver

I'm a HUGE fan of Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst, so we had to stop at Saddle Creek in Omaha!

Our new neighborhood! We are living by the ballpark for the next couple of weeks.