What Colorado Springs has that Dodge City doesn't!

Right after Thanksgiving I spent five days in Colorado Springs. Why? Well, there's just quite a few things that that massive city contains that Dodge City just doesn't have!

Cold, freezing air - The first thing you notice about Colorado Springs is the air. It's colder. Much colder. It's really hard to document this in a photograph, so just picture freezing and shivering. THAT'S what it looks like!

Mountains - Yes, those rather large hills are called mountains and I have to admit that seeing this sight while driving around takes a little bit of getting used to. The good thing?! Those mountains always tell me that that direction is west--it helps to keep my sense of direction!


Current Factory Outlet - In my searching of shops for invitations, I found this store! Ohhhhhhh---I love that place already! I knew I'd love that place once I walked in the door and saw a spinning rack of stickers.


My intent was to look for invites there, which I did do. But I also had to wander up and down each aisle to look at everything else as well. Paper, stickers, cardstock, notecards--all that fun stuff!

Shopping, shopping and more shopping - I came to CO Springs with a list. A rather long, organized, detailed shopping list. And this city contains many more shopping opportunities than DC! And Luke and I spent a great deal of time shopping, looking and registry shopping!

See this cute little, itty, bitty casserole dish?! Isn't is sooooo cute?! I love it! It's the littliest thing, but it's so adorable. Granted, it was at JCPenny's which we do have here, but believe me--they don't have that.

Kohls - This store is neat! Especially their kitchen dept. It's filled with fun stuff. Like these cute snowman dishes. Aren't they fun?!?! Yes, you only use them once a year, but still.....I love them!

Parking meters - Oh yes! And then this---the parking meter! One of the places where I was looking at invitations was downtown and you had to pay for parking. And believe it or not, I have never paid for parking in my entire life. Another thing Colorado Springs has that Dodge City doesn't.
Luke - Perhaps the most important thing, or rather person that DC doesn't contain?! Yep, that would be him!

Baking for Christmas!

Erinn & I spent Monday baking and between the two of us we got tons accomplished!!!

white trash candy mix
peanut clusters
chocolate haystacks
chocolate/caramel turtles
chex mix
chocolate chex mix (puppy chow)
lots of chatting! ;)

Piles of clean dishes--they were used
and washed multiple times!

Mounds of yummy snacks!!!

It started out simple...

...and turned into a much bigger task.

Ingredient list in hand, I started downstairs to see what I had and didn't have for the Christmas baking I was planning to do with Erinn this week. That was my sole intent--to gather up those things to bring upstairs.

And then organization set in. It's been a while since I sorted through the freezer and shelves of "extras" and you know how one thing just leads to another? Yeah, well....that's exactly what happened.

First I did this shelf. Then realized that the pasta boxes didn't belong on the same shelf as the breakfast mixes which were all mixed up with the cake mixes! Which in turn led to sorting the entire stack of shelves, to the freezer and then the other stack of shelves.

Now? It's organized. Planned or not, I like it!

Black Friday Shopping!

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan of enormous crowds--especially when shopping! It's something I always try to avoid. Shopping on the weekend is something I normally do not do. But I decided to brave the stores the Friday after Thanksgiving just for fun. I really can't say I was looking at anything in particular, although I did find some good sales! And I was not waiting in line at 4am at JCPenny's for their front door to open! ;)


But surprisingly enough, when I got to Penny's around 8:30, they still had some snow globes left! I was soooo surprised! I've never been there early enough to actually get one! I wasn't even looking for the snow globe freebie stand when Jeanette (a friend I know who works at Penny's and the library!) called over to me and said she was saving a snow globe just for me! :)

It was fun browsing the mall and other stores, just looking around and running into people I know. Some people I see every week at church and others I only see every so often! Or people who work in stores that know you because you are in there often enough. I have a feeling that will be missing when I move to Colorado Springs. :)


I did find my cats a cat bed, which I'm trying to make them use. You see, they tend to sleep/sit exactly where I do not want them to. My goal is to try to train them to sleep here! I put this cushion on the chair where they always sleep and they didn't touch it for a week. Finally when I moved it to the floor, Scamper decided it was hers! And I've seen her in it multiple times. Maybe, just maybe, she'll adopt it! I can hope!