can't. stop. eating. Nutella.

Like I said in my last post, I sometimes plan what I am going to blog about while I am bored at work. I planned this blog post title a couple weeks ago, but since then I actually have been able to stop eating Nutella... because I ran out :(

Mmmmmmm.....

My obsession started a couple weeks ago when I decided to make that banana "ice cream" again, but put Nutella in it this time. When I brought the Nutella home from the store I realized I should try a little bit since I had never had it before (of course now I'm wondering how I ever lived without it). It was the beginning of the end after that first bite. That night I ended up eating a bunch of it straight from the jar. I couldn't stop! It was soooo good! Then I started eating it on toast. I had 2 pieces of toast with Nutella every day for almost a week haha. But anyway, it was really amazing in the banana "ice cream" and I highly, highly recommend it! I put about 2 tablespoons in, so I still feel like it was still pretty healthy since it just had bananas and Nutella.

I also got obsessed with this new book series. There are 3 books right now, and I'm hoping there will eventually be more. The first one is called Graceling and is about a land with 7 kingdoms where some people are Gracelings, meaning they have two different colored eyes and a "Grace", which can means they are really good at something. There are Graces for absolutely anything you can think of. Anyway, it's the story of this one girl who has a killing Grace and it is really really good! The second book is called Fire and is kind of strange because it is a "companion" to the first book and takes place in a land on the other side of these huge mountains and neither land knows about the other and there is just one character in common between the two books. And then the third book is called Bitterblue and follows one of the characters from Graceling 8 years later. I just finished Bitterblue last night and I highly recommend them! They are all about a strong, young female character, which is what I am really into right now.

Another big thing going on right now is a huge fire right outside Fort Collins. It started on June 9 and by then next day it had really taken off. My sister and I drove around a looking at the smoke a little bit that day. I'm really glad that the smoke seems to mostly blow across the north side of town and not near us, but it still smells smoky at night.

View from the backyard

It looks like the sky is fire, but it's just the sunset

The sun was actually bright bright red but it looks white in this picture

At this point it is 50% contained but 60,000 acres big, and 189 homes have been lost. Here's a website if you want to read more http://inciweb.org/incident/2904/

This was from two days ago (8 days after the fire started)

But it has been making for prettier sunsets.

And now for the Lowe's update. I think I've had 4 guys ask me out now. I don't know for sure because I'm not really good at knowing when a guy is asking me out on an actual date, but 4 guys have shown interest and 2 have asked me out for sure. I think the guy closest to my age is 26 and the guy farthest from my age is 42 (I know! Gross right??). The 42 year old guy has always been kind of playful/flirty but I knew it was never going to happen since he was obviously way too old for me so I never really worried about it. I mean come on, he has an 18 year old daughter!! But then last week he was like "we should get a beer before you leave" and I was like "I don't really like beer" and I kept trying to make excuses because I could not imagine what the heck we could have to talk about. 

This other guy is much more disturbing though, because I think he thought he actually had a chance with me and I think his was more of an actual date request. This guy definitely looks like he's in his 30s but I'm not sure how old he actually is. But the first conversation I had with him was about his kids, so I kind of just assumed he was happily married. The first time he asked me to hang out with him he just said "You should come over to my house for dinner sometime next week" and at that point I still thought he was married so I kind of said sure, but luckily it never came up again. Then he asked me to go hiking, and that was really easy to refuse because I told him I don't like hiking and that I whine a lot when I do, which is true but not something I normally tell a guy I just met haha. Then he went to Vegas for the weekend and came back on Tuesday and gave me a souvenir magnet!!! At that point I got a little freaked out and started trying to avoid him. The next time we had a conversation he mentioned his kids again so I asked how old they were (thinking he would say like 5 or 6) and he said that he has two daughters who are 15 and 16!! What the heck!??? Doesn't he realize that I am closer in age to his daughters than to him! So by that point I was totally grossed out and now I try not to talk to him at all. 

But ladies, if you want to meet a guy, just move to Colorado and work at Lowe's ;)

On a happier note, I am totally loving my ice skating class! I have had two lessons and so far I have learned forward and backward swizzles, snow plow stop, skating on one foot, pumping with one foot, and slalom. The last two are not something ice skaters usually do but are leading up to a really common move. I'm excited for the class this week! I hope by the end I can actually look good doing these moves and not like a toddler trying to learn how to walk haha. 

My rental skates =)

I just realized today that I have less than two weeks until I leave Colorado and only a week and 2 days until I go to NY to find an apartment. I'm actually kind of sad to be leaving because it has been a lot better lately. I think Ben is trying to be less of a control freak and we've been hanging out again. It's been around 100 degrees the last few days and we don't have air conditioning so 3 nights ago Ben and Rachel and I all laid in my bed in the basement watching this new HBO show called Girls. It was fun! Then last night we hung out in my bed again, and then they decided they couldn't stand sleeping upstairs anymore so they blew up the air mattress and slept in the living room in the basement. I think we will watch Girls again tonight and I'm looking forward to it! It's fun to be like a little family haha. 

Ok I think this is getting long enough so I'm going to stop. I should really post more often so all of my posts don't turn into novels haha. 

I'm really going to miss these guys!!! Even though Rocko gives me allergies and Loki is sometimes a pain in the butt. 

Rocko says "It's hot and the counter feels oh so cool"

Loki says "It's hot and Ellen's bed is so comfy. I'm going to take a nap and make sure I take up as much of her bed as possible"

-E