Lani enters the blogosphere

OMG, I am finally doing this. My first blog EVER! I bet you all thought I had dropped off the face of the earth, when really I was just so blog-un-savvy that I didn't know how to compose a post - or actually, I wasn't technically invited to be an author until yesterday (Thanks Kimbo!). So here goes - lots to catch up on :)

Woo hoo, I live in Colorado!! (okay, I know this is old news) With 300 days of sun and mild temps, it sometimes feels like summer in the middle of winter. Hurray! What a departure from the last three years.

This is a typical December day at the Horsetooth Reservoir near our house - we went for a walk with our parents when they were visiting around the holidays - doesn't look much like winter :)

I am a big dork, this is not even the dorkiest of the photos I was choosing from

And you can have the snow when you want it...

XC skiing at Rocky Mountain National Park

Better get into the actual list of NEWs:

1. I am a tax lady.

It is not nearly as great as it sounds (ha!) I have been preparing taxes part time since January, working for Liberty Tax Service - it has definitely been an experience. I will leave it at that. At least I don't have to dress up in the Lady Liberty costume and wave a sign by the roadside (see below).

Amazing the things you end up doing when you can't get a job in your field. That leads me to the next post!

2. I GOT A JOB! I got a wildlife job! Working with mountain plovers!

After a long hiatus, I am returning to the field, working for Colorado Division of Wildlife, beginning in mid April. I will be working on the same project that I applied to do my masters on (and didn't get). We will be researching cause-specific mortality of mountain plover chicks - they are up for listing under the endangered species act. The work involves lots of nest searching, capturing chicks and attaching tiny leg harness radio transmitters and taking blood samples etc, then tracking the little guys with radio-telemetry. I am excited to get back in the field but not thrilled about communal field-living 4 hours away from Joey. Hopefully it will give me a foot in the door with the Division, since from what I hear, it's all about who you know.

3. First New Years without friends to celebrate with :( but also one of the few Joe and I have actually spent together.

We had a pretty good time. We went to this restaurant called Fish - delicious food (see ahi tuna egg rolls), but the best thing was that they gave away free champagne whenever it turned midnight in any timezone (including Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) - pretty much a celebration every half hour!

i am not good at taking pictures with my phone

4. We are house hunting too (any tips, Maria....Alana?) I feel a little in over my head!

5. Here are a couple of the new things we have cooked:

butternut and caramelized onion galette

Argentine-style stuffed elk

BONUS - real-life "fat bird"

it's a stellar's jay - all puffed up!


I should write a whole other post for our trip to Costa Rica, but here's a taste...
it rained A LOT!



it's a first/new, too - had never been caught in a flood before!

we needed to cross this


we used a big stick and teamwork, but I still almost got washed away. we saw the guys on the motorbike later on, but it's still a mystery to me as to how they managed the crossing.

Well, that wasn't so hard after all :)

Miss you all!
Lani