More food and a hike.

Oh what's that? You want to know more about the wonderful food we're having up here? Oh ok.......

First up we have The Yard House which is located along the infamous 16th Street Mall. We went on a Friday night while "Make Music Denver" was going on so it was decently crowded, but we managed to beat the rush by getting there around 5. That way we were also able enjoy happy hour which is 3-6 M-F!
Alright here are the goods ....

My drink: The Hawaiian Mule (pineapple infused vodka, ginger beer & mint) I love moscow mules and pineapple so this was a wonderful treat for me. But unfortunately it gave me acid reflux because apparently that's a thing for me now......

Whatever. It was still really delicious.

Then we had some spinach cheese dip with pita chips as an appetizer .... really yummy, but really rich! I would have liked it better with tortilla chips. Pita chips are just too much sometimes.

And then we shared a margherita pizza (also on happy hour), which was SO GOOD. Tomatoes, garlic, & basil. Yum, yum, & yum. And not to mention beautiful.

Next up is Doghouse Tavern. This place is really close to our apartment and kinda tucked away. It has a really fun vibe and really good food.

J got the Philly Cheesestake and loved it.

I got a GIANT HOT DOG.

It was great and I was able to take half it home. We both got the homemade potato chips which are hit or miss at some restaurants, but here they were a hit!

We made it to happy hour here as well, but coors and coors light drafts are always $2 so that makes every hour happy hour, right?

And finally .... this has nothing to do with food but .... we went on our first hike! The hike led us to Maxwell Falls. It was 2 miles there and 2 miles back. It was a "moderate" level hike, but a lot of it was uphill, so for me if was reasonably difficult.

Here are some photos! It was so beautiful and the weather was great.

^^ At this point I was wishing this was the falls. It wasn't, but this was my favorite spot on the hike!

^^ The falls! We're actually at the top of it. We weren't sure how to be at the bottom of it, so this is the only picture we have of Maxwell Falls, ha. We ate lunch up here though, and that was pretty cool. 

^^ what?

I'm hoping to make hiking a regular activity for us. It's a fun way to get exercise because you kinda forget that you're getting exercise.

Anyways, that's all for now. I hope ya'll never get tired of posts about food because I can't guarantee they'll stop. I should probably do a craft or something, huh? We'll see.......

Thanks for reading!
Bye friends.

Cafe 180

On a simple Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan recommended we venture down Broadway street to find a place for lunch. He had driven through there while I was and Texas and noticed it's appeal. I love any chance to get out of the apartment so I was down.

We drove for awhile and noticed quite a few places that looked good, but decided on Cafe 180 (generally you put cafe in a restaurant title and I'm like "YUP"). 

Anyways ...

Obvi, I looked it up on yelp first. 

I came across quite a few comments that mentioned "donations" and "non-profit" .... so I assumed we were going to a place with some pretty awesome values. I was into it. 

When we arrived and ordered, the sweet lady behind the counter asked if we had been there before, we said no and she started explaining that they were a non-profit, I mentioned that we had read up on it a bit and she then asked us how much we would like to pay........ I looked at J, with confusion and told the lady that we would like to pay for our meals and then one more (this was an option I had seen on the website).  She then again asked how much we wanted to pay.... and this went on until we determined that we would pay seven dollars/meal and therefore $21. The lady seemed so appreciative and we were glad to give to a good cause, but I was still confused as to what had just happened. 

After a minute of looking around and reading some signs, we realized that Cafe 180 serves anyone and everyone, regardless of whether or not they can pay for their meal. The options for paying are (1) however much you would normally pay or can pay, (2) pay nothing and work one hour in their kitchen, or to (3) pay however much you want and then a little more to "pay-it-forward." 

YOU GUYS...this place opens their doors to absolutely anyone, they will not turn you away if you cannot afford a meal. And they even give people the option to work for their meal if they feel so compelled. This place is doing their part to help the homeless/unemployed/low income people of Denver, and I was so humbled by the expereince. 

You can tell that there are regulars there, those who they expect to see at least once a day, and the people at Cafe 180 welcome them with open arms. 

And everyone eats together! Whether you're taking a lunch break from your 9-5 well paying office job or if you just walked 10 miles from a park downtown to get what may be your only meal for the day ... you will all eat together, and that is a beautiful beautiful thing. 

Oh, the food? Yeah it was great. I had the southwestern chicken wrap and J had the meatball sandwhich. Both were delicious, and there are other options I can't wait to try. Not to mention we were able to sit on the patio and enjoy the gorgeous Colorado weather (one of my new favorite things to do!).

Places like this leave me inspired and longing to do my part. To acknowledge that not everyone has it as good as I do, which means I have a social responsibility to help when I can. 

What are some other unique and truly inspiring non-profits that you have heard about? There are so many interesting ideas are out there. I love seeing people use their talents to help people! 

I pray that this post did this place justice. It is just so wonderful and I get lost in my words when I feel passionate about things. 

Well, thanks for reading!

Bye friends. 

p.s. Visit Cafe 180's website! 

An aquatic adventure in photos + other stuff.

A view of downtown from the Aquarium! 

We loved the jelly fish most of all. So beautiful! 

After the aquarium we ventured down the street to My Brother's Bar for dinner. The atmosphere was really cool and very chill. Seems like a popular stop for locals for an after work drink. We both enjoyed a beer and a meal. 

I had the chicken salad sandwhich. It was good, but super difficult to eat! I ended up just eating the chicken salad with a fork and taking occasional bites of the bread. 

Jonathan had the Bum Steer, cold (a sandwich with pastrami, turkey, ham, and cheese). He really enjoyed it. And I think it looked pretty amazing. 

 The onion rings were the best part. They basically melted in your mouth. So delicious! 

Another successful restaurant down and another place we plan to go again. Especially when we find ourselves in that area of town! Which will hopefully be sooner rather than later because we found out that The South Platte River and Confluence park (read more about it about it here on yelp) are popular spots to escape the summer "heat" (it gets hot here, I promise, but it's nothing like Texas heat). 

How fun does this look!?

The pool at our apartment is currently out of service due to a leak, so I'm thinking the South Platte River might be a good alternative :) I'll let ya know! 

Thanks for reading! 

Thai food and the kindness of a stranger.

If you know me well, you know I love Thai food. Abilene locals may know about the little gem that is Ann's Thai. If you live in Abilene and haven't tried it, I really encourage you to do so (it's on South 1st next to Willis)! Even of you've never had Thai food. Go. Get the chicken pad Thai your first time. And if you're down for something a little different, try the yellow curry! It's my favorite meal of all time ever. Their Thai spring rolls are also exceptional. (also, don't go by the reviews on yelp for this place, in my opinion, most of them are inaccurate)

But when coming to Denver, I knew Thai food restaurants would be in abundance, but that didn't mean they could hold a candle to Ann's (I'm what you might call a super fan). But, I think we might've come across a pretty solid competitor. 

Udom Thai. 

This place had really great reviews on yelp (new BFF), and it wasn't too far from our place. I was willing to give it a shot due to my withdraws from Ann's. 

I ordered the Pad See Eew w/ tofu because I wasn't mentally ready to try their yellow curry yet. It was so great! The sauce and spices they used were a little different tasting at first, but it didn't take long for my taste buds to be into it. And the tofu was cooked perfectly! 

Jonathan got the Thai Basil Fried Rice and it was soooo good! SO GOOD.

I don't know food terminology well enough to explain to you how flavorful and delicious this rice was so you'll just have to trust me. Exceptional. 

On top of the excellent food, the service was just beyond. Our server was so friendly and when he found out we were new to the area he took the time to get to know us a little better and was just so helpful and kind. When we moved here, we were thankful to have a few friends in the area, but when relocating the kindness of strangers is sometimes all you have to go on. He is one of the main reasons I can't wait to return to Udom Thai! And who knows...maybe I'll even try the yellow curry next time...

New apartment tour coming soon! (Hopefully..if we can ever get this place togetherrr..)
...and probably more posts about food...

Thanks for reading! 

Adventures don't always go according to plan..

..using this post to get everyone caught up on our life..

Well friends and family we did it! We moved to colorful Colorado. A lot of you know how this has been a dream of ours, so being here is just...unreal. 

We ended our time in Texas with a Texas themed going away party thrown by some friends of ours. The party was complete with Texas shaped cookies, lone star beer, a game of Texas hold 'em, and a giant Texas flag signed with words of encouragement from our friends! 

The next day we packed and had dinner with our families at one of our favorite local restaurants, Szechuan. This whole move would not be happening without the encouragement from our families! We are so thankful for these people. 

And then we began the eleven hour trip to Englewood, CO. My parents drove our car (and our freshly neutered dog) and my husband and I drove the uhaul. We stopped in Pueblo, CO for the night then finished the trip the next morning. The whole drive was actually pretty painless.

Once we arrived at our apartment complex, we met with one of the workers and she was so wonderful! But once we walked into the apartment..I was in a little bit of shock. The newly renovated apartment we had been promised looked...well it looked like crap...

and please brace yourself for the oven.....

IS THAT NOT HORRIFYING!? 

Needless to say, I had tears in my eyes. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" -actual words from my mouth. 

BUT...I promise this ends well! 

We immediately took pictures and took them to the leasing office. The ladies who worked there were equally as horrified and desperate to help us. They called to get a replacement oven and called the cleaning company to come back and completely re-clean the whole apartment (they were farely certain that they had not cleaned it when they had come by originally). You could visibly see how sorry they were for all of the trouble. They also let us know that the counters, bath tub and shower were to be resurfaced ASAP. 

Being able to see them take action was comforting, but all of this meant we couldn't fully move into our apartment. So we moved everything into one of the bedrooms that didn't need any repairs and set up our bed. This was about all we could do while we waited for the cleaning company to come by. But when they did, they did a wonderful job and completely brought new life to our oven! 

We did not think it was possible to make it look this good, but the lady who cleaned was clearly a magician and got it back to normal/usable condition! We were so thankful and let the ladies in the office know that a replacement oven was no longer necessary. They then let us know that some people would be coming by on Thursday to resurface everything! It was happening so quickly and we were pumped. Our little mess of an apartment was starting to feel like a home.

On Thursday we had to leave the apartment while they fixed everything so we made a day of it in Denver. (post about that coming soon!) But when all was said and done...everything looked amazing. 

It all looks like new and we are very pleased! (Minus the fact that we can't shower for 2 days....mmm). We are so appreciative of the ladies here at fielders creek for being so pro-active! They even gave us a target gift card for all of the trouble. Excellent customer service. 

We are still working on getting everything set up, so pictures of what we've done with the new place will come soon! And I'll be using the blog to share info about restaurants, bars, and other places we love around the city. So there are some things to look forward to! 

We already really like it here :) 

** I also want to take a moment to say that, at this point, we are so thankful to just have a roof over our heads..regardless of all of the nit picky things we had fixed. Many people in our new state no longer have their homes, and we realize that we are so blessed to not be in the current line of the fire. This experience has tested my patience, but I can't imagine what those at the forefront of this are feeling. Please continue to pray for all those who have been and will be affected by this fire and for those helping to contain it. **

Thanks for reading!