your wild colorado

it seems like a lifetime since the family and i have made the trek to the rocky mountain state so, in a flash, we booked a flight, made a few room reservations and off we went! the second i stepped out of the Denver airport that rocky mountain high hit me like a breath of fresh O2; almost like it was hiding right below the surface of my brain... the crispy thin air, the looming mountain monuments and raging waters of the Arkansas River never skipped a beat. we were ready to hit the road. 

day 1 consisted of the usual arrival and seemingly mile long walk through Denver's maze of baggage claims and underground tram ways, then the car rental pickup (we scored a somewhat sporty chevy malibu but the pig takes, literally 10 seconds to hit 45 miles per..) and a departure South towards Colorado Springs.  we spent the remainder of the day at the Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls, which were both as epic as they sound. and let me tell you, there are mountains EVERYWHERE

base of Pike's Peak in Manitou Springs

snowcapped, evergreen topped and some just plain rocky! at Seven Falls you would have thought my hands were coated in squirrel food because the chipmunks and ground squirrels were friendlier than ever and the falls couldn't have been more radical.  after a 347 stair climb we were all feeling a bit woozy but one look out to the skyline and that calming sensation took over with awesome force. 

gnarly set of stairs leading to the top of seven falls 

incredible view from atop the falls

rumor has it small rodents are likely to carry the plague...these dudes were just too cute for me to care!

when you've lost all hope just remember the sky is endless and the sunset is the only the birth of a new dawn
Leadville, elevation: 10,200ft

friday we set out for Canon City and packed in a full day of ziplining and rafting.  here's a quick edit of our day in the mountain scrub sailing at speeds up to 45mph and lines longer than 1000ft.  twas quite an extreme experience but nothing compared to the afternoon's journey down the Arkansas.  let's just say we didn't stay safe and dry in the raft...helmet cam view of a wicked day in the depth's of Royal Gorge will have to wait till tomorrow.  until then, stay wet, stay wild and remember, out west there are no limits.
-shane

Talk to us.

pinterest

Hiya, folks! Have you noticed we added some tunage to serenade you during your stay? We think it's pretty dang cool, but in the end it's you who decides what's up to snuff, so let us know what you think! You can do this by voting in the nifty poll located over yonder, under our list of faithful followers. 


Oh, and by the way, if you have any suggestions for songs you'd like to hear instead (or just songs we should be putting on our real iPods), puhhlease let us know in a comment below! 


Thanks for your input!!


Poll is now closed.

22, woo!

Saturday was my birthday, and although it would've been really spectacular of me to eat 22 slices of birthday cake, or shoot 22 fireworks from between my teeth, or get 22 tattoos, I instead figured I'd just gather some friends together and make a mess in my apartment. A sober mess. A mess that I would later have to clean up myself. Thanks for your inspiration, Katie.

First, I grabbed some paper and arranged it rainbowfully (we've established in the past that the lighting in my apt. is weird, and that nobody knows how to use the settings on my camera, so just trust me that it looked pretty!).

 Then I stuffed it in the retro Osterizerrrr that Lacy's madre so kindly passed down to me, and blend, blend, blended that shiz up!

Cheers, m'dears!

This is where the mess was created. So messy your brain can't even comprehend it, and it's registering as a blurry image to your poor innocent eyes! But not as messy as if they were real drinks we were tossing in the air, so that's a bonus.

Birthday pic! One which portrays how I am truly a horrible model - constantly in motion - so let this be a tribute to Shane, for somehow using his camera to trick you into thinking I'm actually standing still most of the time. It's all a lie. But a good lie! Go Shane!

-christen


PS - Shane is on a trip to Colorado with his family (lucky dog), and will soon be posting exclusive footage of his travels on the very blog you're reading right now, taken from his new GoPro helmet cam! Stay tuned!

bright lights in the dead of night

image: frank franzetta, wolves, 1965

Since our last post, we've packed in more face shredding and eye-ball popping activities than we can even remember.  Between bike modifications for my job delivering subs at Jimmy Johns (whose subs rock, btw) and setting out to light up the night like a wild pack of electronic coyotes we've barely had time to sit back and revel at a few photographs or even say a few words about the past weekend and how it absolutely kicked ass.  So this post is as much for me as it is for you, our beloved followers whom we'd be nothing without (sounds a little more dark wizard than it should, but we love you--simple as that).  To be quite frank about it, i'd be lost in a swirling pool of my own photos, videos and memories without this interweb brain-swap.  Nothing would get organized or get sorted for any kind of second-viewing.  This simple little blog of us trying to connect with you, is the perfect platform to do some, often vague type of transfer from our brains to yours.  We all just want that small hint of reality that we have some similar minds out amidst the massive pit of humanity we live in.  So enjoy this seemingly random mess of photos and yeah, we'd love a comment, but we're damnblasted happy if you simply stop in for a visit and ride a brain wave or two. 

midnight rebirth

everybody do the light stick toss around the invisible tree, oh yeah 

portals do exist

before and after, limited tools leads to long, frustrating nights..completion was sweeet

it's as luscious as it looks. chocolate on top of cheesecake plus the fluffiest vanilla cake for christen's 22nd birthday! 

what if cake came as big as this giant dalmation?..just too insane

and to top off adventurous weekend, here lies the remnants of our tastiest indulgence. we used what we had and never looked back. RIP 7-layer dip

cheers me mateys,

shane

ding dong

This is one of those dresses that turns many heads, but you're not quite sure if it's because people like it or feel bad for me. The main reason I'm on the fence is because the last time I wore it was singing and dancing among cardboard cutout scenery in Oz in my high school's musical. For a minuscule-budget costume, this thing is pretty much as good as it gets. That's why I kept it. Shh, don't tell.

 

This outfit as a whole is pretty extreme vintage for me. It seems like something I'd grant oodles of chic points to if I saw somebody else wearing it, but I felt sort of...je ne sais quois...I think my problem was that I didn't have the right jewelry to wear with it. I don't know, what do you think?

vintage dress, lucky brand shirt (collar), modcloth shoes, f21 bracelet

 

Well anyways, I had fun in it. I mean come on, how can you not have a good day in a dress this insanely bright? I'll have to play around with some outfits centered around it and toss it on here for some advice from all y'all. In the mean time, I'm off to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards :)

 -christen 

you gotta fight for your right!

I figured since I mentioned how my fire escape met its match in the last post, I'd retreat back to show it off to new viewers. That, or Shane was at work and it's the most convenient outdoor location to use the camera timer. But that's embarrassing, so we'll just stick with the first one. :)

target hat, lucky brand necklace, j.crew tank, zara paris scarf as belt, cuff bracelet (R hand) was a gift, cuff bracelet (L hand) martin & osa, free people skirt, payless wedges

Speaking of embarrassing things, it's been me against the world thus far when it comes to this hat. According to all my friends, it has inappropriate jokes just radiating off it and I must be kidding every time I wear it. So normally I don't, which is sad, because I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't find it quirky and fun! But the combination of inspiration from a chictopia user (unfortunately I can't recall which!), and the fact that I was alone aaaaall daayyyy, allowed me to talk myself into to taking a stand and make my love for this hat public. Muah ha ha ha ha!

So what do you guys think...hat, or no hat? (Please say 'hat,' please say 'hat'...)

-christen

PS ~ remember this scarf from a couple posts ago? Too versatile to be true!

iron spires and other ideal things

Today we discovered a fire escape that was slightly cooler than mine. I knew they had to exist somewhere in the world, but I'd conveniently denied it until today I could no more. I suppose I'll just have to camp out there until its current residents realize it must have been granted to me by the fire escape gods and move out, leaving their apartment fully furnished and paid off. That would be ideal.

 

Said residents caught me posing on it, which was awkward. But we held our ground and got past Step 1 of the 6-Step Plan, which consisted of them pretending like they didn't notice us. Also ideal.

anthro blouse, vintage necklace, j.crew shorts, j.crew heels

 

Shane had to scale a roof to get some of these shots...we figured out it's the roof of his soon-to-be new apartment, so he should be well acquainted when he moves in. How ideal! =]

-christen