by Lori on January 19, 2012
Salad Time
First of all I just have to say that I am not a writer so I hope this isn’t too dry and boring. I want to share some habits that are working for me on my diet and lifestyle journey. What seems to be key in my progress is planning. I plan out my workouts on a weekly basis and also food too. Since I get up so early to swim 3x per week I make 3 servings of cooked oatmeal and divide it up into individual containers. On my swimming days I reheat and add protein powder and rice milk which only takes about 2-3 minutes. For my lunches I prepare my salads on Sunday night. My daughter takes her lunch too so I make 6-8 salads at a time. You can buy storage containers which hold the dressing separate and it keeps your salad from getting soggy. I try to omit the dressing all together.
Clean dry spinach works well and I like to add green peppers, carrots, chick peas, chicken and olives. This week I used peppers, ground beef, salsa and rinsed black beans. My salads are ready to go in my refrigerator and I can grab them and head out the door. I have no excuse to go out for lunch or snack on bad foods at the office. When I make them for the kids I add dried fruit or feta cheese too.
Ready for the Frig
This has eliminated so much stress about what to eat for me. It might seem a little redundant to eat the same salad every day, but so far it is working. I am now working on the same menu planning for evening. It is a little more difficult with kids and sports practice and trying to eat as a family too. I will let you know how it works out. Good Luck!
by Lori on January 19, 2012
View from Trail Ridge Road
Every summer we head over to Grand Lake and play. We start out at the Fat Cat Cafe, which has the best breakfast in the world. Try it for yourself. The owner, Sally, is a fantastic hostess. I thought she told me that she has about 200 people per day for her weekend buffet. Pastries, scotch eggs, tons of bacon, cinnamon rolls and desserts of all kinds, I could go on and on…
Best Breakfast Around
My kids aren’t really into hiking these days so we planned a short hike on the Green Mountain trail. Our main goal was to see MOOSE, which we were very successful.
Moose in Big Meadow
Moose Cow and Calf
We saw bulls, a cow and calf and many wild flowers on our way to Big Meadow. It rained all day and the mosquitoes were horrible so it was pretty difficult to keep the kids motivated. All in all I would highly recommend a early summer hike on the West side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The Calypso Orchids were just amazing.
Calypso Orchids
We also spent about an hour at Grand Lake watching the sailboats race. The best way to finish off the day is at Grand Lake Chocolates for some of their world famous ice cream.
Sailboats on Grand Lake
by Lori on January 13, 2012
Historically this blog has been real estate and hiking related and this really limits so many topics that I am interested in. I want to share more of my hobbies and interests like recipes, exercise ideas, home remodeling, gardening, maybe a little HS Girls Basketball. This is a year of change in my business and family life. I have spent the last week or so setting both personal and professional goals. Experts say that people who make resolutions are more likely to reach their goals so here I am sharing with the world my goals for this year. I have always been a firm believer in writing down your goals, they have a habit of slipping away if you don’t. I have an iphone and I keep them in my notes so I can refer to them often. Here are a few of my goals for starters. K.I.S.S. is a good theory for me.
Live In Estes Park
For business I set sales goals and organizational goals. I love meeting new people and introducing them to Estes Park so I definitely want to work with more buyers. I already met with an internet tech about beefing up my website. I also have an idea for an iphone app specific to Estes Park so tomorrow I am going to start making calls to make that happen this year. I exceeded my sales goals last year and doubled my business. I am hoping for a repeat. I set new goals of time limits for returning emails and phone calls too.
Health and Lifestyle
I had some major setbacks in my exercise program towards the end of last year so I have written off running for the time being and signed up for swimming 3x times a week at 5:30am. This is practically the middle of the night for me so this will be a huge struggle. My amazing coach got me from 0 to Freestyle in only 3 sessions. I signed up with a weight loss accountability group too. I have about 20 pounds to lose so I will pledge a dollar amount per pound to benefit Crossroads Ministry, a local food pantry. My husband is reading the “4- Hour Body” by Tim Ferriss so I am getting up to speed to see if that could be incorporated into my busy schedule too. The book looks interesting at this point. I don’t know if I can eat that many beans.
Hobbies, Travel and Family
I want to double the size of my garden and experiment more with mountain gardening. I have some travel goals as well, for one we are planning many of our trips around my husbands races this year to try to keep the family together. Three one hundred mile races are already on the calendar, Big Horn 100, Hard Rock 100 and our of course the Leadville 100. It is hard to find time to take vacations and for Alan to do his races so we combined these two activities. I think it will be awesome especially with Vi Endurance rolling gel out in a few weeks. I want to visit Kentucky and the Smoky Mountains and I really really want to go to New York City too.
I am hoping this blog will also serve as a tool to keep me accountable. So if you see me eating a chocolate brownie please pry it from my fingers. Look for some changes around here…Here’s to a great 2012!!
Many of my clients are asking about vacation rentals so this is a summary of an article from the newspaper last week. The process is quite easy.
The Larimer County Board of County Commissioners and the Estes Park Board of Trustees amended the Estes Valley Development Code in 2010 to require all Estes Valley vacation home rentals (rented for fewer than 30 days) and bed and breakfast inns (B&B) to obtain an annual operating permit. This was done to to further protect the character of residential neighborhoods. A business license will serve as the permit for properties within Estes Park town limits. However, a separate annual operating permit is required for all vacation home rentals and B&Bs in the unincorporated county area of the Estes Valley Development Area, excluding those zoned “A” Accommodation. A map of the development area is available at estes.org/ComDev/EVDevCodeArea.aspx.
There is no cost for the annual operating permits for county properties. Permits were required as of July 30, 2010, and can be obtained from the Town of Estes Park town clerk`s office in town hall, 170 MacGregor Ave. in Estes Park. For more information, call the town clerk`s office (970) 577-3703 or visit estes.org/townclerk. Properties which continue operating without a permit are subject to enforcement action. In the unincorporated Estes Valley, enforcement action can result in a hearing before the Larimer County Commissioners, citation into District Court, and fines. Inside Town limits, enforcement action can result in a citation into Municipal Court and fines.
The permit process will assist in bringing vacation home rentals and B&Bs into compliance with applicable regulations. Since 2004, Estes Valley vacation home rentals and B&Bs have been subject to regulations which are intended to protect the residential character of neighborhoods where these commercial operations also exist. These regulations include maximum occupancy and number of parties, appearance, signage and parking. The covenants of homeowners associations may be more restrictive and even prohibit vacation rentals. For more information on applicable regulations, please contact the Town of Estes Park Community Development Department at (970) 577-3720.
Accommodation rentals of fewer than 30 days are subject to sales taxes. The permit process for vacation home rentals and B&Bs in residential neighborhoods will also assist in the collection of the appropriate taxes which may include state, county, town and local marketing district taxes. For more information on these taxes, please visit estes.org/townclerk.
