Week One Done

With each ending, there is a new beginning. Summer has slipped away, the school year has kicked up again, and a familiar routine has become embedded in my system. My heart still aches for summer and home at times, but I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion is playing through my head, as I get back into the swing of school life again, slowly but surely, like muscle memory.

Life has felt more adult than ever lately and it's really taking some getting used to.

S O P H O M O R E  Y E A R.

I'm moved into my new apartment that I share with Mackenzie and 2 other girls.
1. How the heck am I old enough to be living in an apartment?!
2. How freaking awesome is it that I live with Mack? Who would have guessed that five years ago, when Mack and I met as locker buddies, we would one day be living together? The way that life works and puts people into our lives sure is something crazy.

Throughout this week, Mackenzie and I have discovered that we are truly just an old married couple. We eat our meals quietly on our porch everyday, tag team chores and cooking, and do our best not to accidentally match. Apartment/adult life is wonderful. Tour to come soon!

I survived all of my classes and am so excited for this semester. Nervous too because chemistry and upper division anatomy but as Gloria Gaynor would say, "I will survive". I'm in Chem 1 and lab, Anatomy and lab, and Social Problems. Science with a side of sociology.

This first week has been nothing short of amazing:

Sunday we watched Riley tear up the soccer field #proudmamas

We sufficiently managed to take an awkward first day of school picture.

We ate 9pm ice cream and watched Taylor Swift music videos.

We danced the night away at the Grizzly Rose.

 We had back to school Beau Jo's.

And took our babies took Sonic. 

We saw Sierra's awesome apartment and had a tiki party

Yes, I do look like a dad on vacay 

Had to add this because I love it so much

And now I'm laughing out loud because every picture description began with "We", referring to me and Mack because we are essentially one person. Oh man.

So here's to sophomore year, best friends, adult life, unorganized short blog posts, and dance parties. Because dance parties should always be mentioned.

xo
Hannah

Thank You for the Music

When I was in Kauai last month, my family stopped in at this little cafe near Port Allen to grab some lunch. It was nearly empty, with only one other family in there finishing lunch. When we walked in, I heard the faint sound of "Mamma Mia" playing against the noise of fans and quiet chatter. It made me smile and I thought it was rather serendipitous to be stopping into eat somewhere that was playing my favorite music. As we sat in a booth looking over the menu, "Waterloo"came on, followed by "Super Trouper". I was in complete awe that this little hole in the wall cafe was playing ABBA! The waitress noticed that I was singing along and mentioned that she was a longtime ABBA fan and had felt a little down, so she decided to play ABBA because she knew it would instantly put her in a better mood. Oh, how right she was. The food was fantastic, service friendly, and my day, made. Thank you Grinds Cafe! The rest of the day, I played ABBA in the car, much to my family's liking;)

So, I am obsessed with ABBA. There is video of me dancing in my neighbors yard to "Take a Chance on Me" when I am about 6 years old. My dance moves were about as amazing then as they are now, ha. Mamma Mia is my second favorite movie (after Cheaper by the Dozen, of course) and I enjoy the weirdness of Muriel's Wedding. There's just something about the catchy beat and slightly corny lyrics of all ABBA songs that I just adore. Back in April, I was looking up what shows would be at Red Rocks in the summer. As I scrolled through the list, I saw that in late July, an ABBA tribute band would be performing. I clicked a few links and listened to some videos and was blown away by how similar the tribute sounded to the real deal. A call to my mom later, I was figuring out how to buy tickets. They sadly were not on sale yet, but I was still determined to go. The semester ended, summer was in full swing, and the tickets were bought! We had a big group of ladies to go with us- the ultimate girls night out.

We grabbed sandwiches and picniced in the parking lot of Red Rocks (classy right?) and made our way into the breathtaking amphitheater. As we waited for the show to begin, we took some pictures (duh) and were so excited we could hardly handle it. The audience was quite the mix of a handful of young people, but mainly middle-aged and seniors. We were certainly the anomaly- while we were singing "The Winner Takes It All", an older lady in front of me turned around and asked how the heck we even knew who ABBA was. The show began with a number of lesser-known songs, but really picked up about 20 minutes into. Everyone was singing and dancing and I had never felt so alive. Lucky for us, this concert is an annual show at Red Rocks so this is a new tradition that I have a feeling will continue for many years to come. It was the best show of my whole life, and will be hard to beat.

Red on the Rocks lolz

SO MUCH EXCITEMENT FOR ABBA

No truer friend than Mack

Yep, we're talking about ya

Love my Petersen ladies! 

Bling sistas

Chiquitita tell me the truth, I'm a shoulder you can cry on 

There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando...

xo
Hannah

Best Friends 5eva

Five best friends, five different lives, five unique personalities, five years invincible, 5ever.

This first year of college taught me a so many things and left me with with a new, wide  perspective on life, but above all else, it made me realize how incredibly blessed I am to have had the closest little group of friends in high school. Our friendship is not limited to high school and has made it through one year apart, coming out stronger than ever. These are the people that made four pretty important years of my life four of the best years of my life. Every minute we are together is such a gift and I cherish all of our memories. Here's to five years of friendship and 500 more.

Recreating our favorite homecoming/prom picture- it clearly gets better over time (see below)

Homecoming 2013

Prom 2014

Lol don't try to mess with our friendship

True colors

Us about 99% of the time

"Together or apart, not matter how far apart, we live in one another. We go on together."

"No matter how far we travel on our separate paths, somehow we always find our way back to each other."

xo
Hannah

The Rock

About half an hour from my little pocket of suburbia is one of my favorite, easy hikes. Rock Park in Castle Rock, CO is home to what is referred to as "the Rock". (rock rock rock!) The whole hike is an easy 1.4 miles and offers great views of the mountains. 

In June, I was babysitting my cousins and wanted to take them to do something fun on a Saturday afternoon. Dillon was interested in going on a hike (as long as we brought Bella, his favorite little pup), so I called up Mackenzie and asked if she wanted to join us, along with Liam, who is close to Dillon's age. It was hot but breezy as we navigated up the trail. The boys were getting quite annoyed as we took pictures and video along the way, but what else is new.

Love these little buddies

Bella the adventure pup

No shortage of crevices to climb in

 So we get to the end of the trail head. This was our first time hiking the Rock and knew that people were always getting to the tip top of the rock, but the trail ended. Mack and I were a little confused, then realized we had to climb to the top. La duh. Only problem was we had a little dachshund with us who was so not going to make it up there. We took turns holding her at the bottom, but all had the chance to climb up and wow. There's just something about being up high and looking out on the world that is so, so humbling.

go Li!

Lucky to have him as a cousin

Love these siblings

Liam was screaming as this picture was taking. He doesn't like life on the edge;)

Significant others 

We always match

Liam was so over the pictures

Naturally, we had to do the hike again. A few days later, we planned to go with 5ever. Sadly, only Riley was able to make the hike, but we met up with Sierra and Jessica for dinner afterwards.

Hardcore adventurers

Made it to the top right before a storm

So much love for these friends

I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful state with so many places so nearby to hike.  Hiking is one of my favorite things about summer. I can't wait to share more of my favorite Colorado hiking spots!

xo
Hannah