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!

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

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!!

Here are some photos of a recent hike to Calypso Cascades in Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. This is a beautiful hike along the Saint Vrain river. Not a lot of vistas but a beautiful setting and this time of year abundant water. The warm pine smell was just amazing and my favorite memory of this hike. I looked the entire way for orchids and was rewarded right before the falls with many clusters of these delicate flowers. We were also rewarded by meeting a huge family of Ptarmigan. This hike is 3.6 miles round trip with slight elevation gain. The parking lot is small so arrive early. Enjoy! See you on the trail!

Pair of Calypso Orchids

North Saint Vrain River Wild Basin

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.

Estes Park cabin overlooking  Lake Estes with mountain views too. Beautiful half acre lot with mature trees. This home has totally been redone with hickory hardwood throughout, new hickory kitchen cabinets, new appliances, roof, siding, deck and stamped concrete patio. Cozy fire pit off the deck.  This truly is an amazing 1 bedroom 1 bath home with large mud room and abundant storage, over 700 SF with all city utilities. Offered at only $259,000.  This won’t last, call Lori 970-232-5511 today!

If you have not owned a home in the last three years, congratulations you are considered a first time home buyer and may qualify for some down payment programs that serve Estes Park.  The Estes Valley Workforce Housing Assistance (EVWHA) down payment loan program was developed by The Estes Park Board of REALTORS® and Estes Park Housing Authority to assist working families residing in Estes Park between the 81% and 150% of the Area Median Income (AMI). This program is a low interest loan. The maximum loan amount is 3.5% of purchase price OR $10,500 with an interest rate of 2% with a 10 year term.  Applicants need to invest a minimum of $3000 of their own money into the home purchase and attend a required Home Ownership class.

The second program is the Larimer Home Ownership Program (LHoP) down payment assistance program.  This program is available to buyers earning 80% or less of the Area Median Income.  This program is a low interest loan. The maximum loan amount is $10,000 with an interest rate of 2% with the term generally being 10 years.  The housing authority also has programs in several neighborhoods that offer deed restriction homes offering soft 2^nd mortgages of up to $50,000 that require no payments during the ownership.  Both, EVWHA and LHoP programs can be used with ANY of the homeownership programs of the Estes Park Housing Authority, provided you qualify.  If you are a first time home buyer I would love to help you reach your home ownership goals.  Call me and I can get you in touch with lenders and other professionals familiar with these programs.  Now is a great time to buy, rates are low and houses are affordable in our market.

Savor Estes Park is the opportunity to sample 24 different restaurants in town each Thursday in March.  Patrons are encouraged to visit 2-3 restaurants each week and enjoy quality dining at a discount price of $3 for a 6″ plate of their specialty foods and a glass of wine, beer or soft drink. Reel Mountain Theater is also participating by offering a matinee show at 1pm each week.  Over a thousand people participated last year so mark your calendars for lots of fun and food.  Download your map here. I hope to see you there.

A couple weeks back I went to the Ski and Recreation area presentation to the Estes Park Town Board. Here is my brief description: This project would involve a redevelopment of the Elkhorn Lodge and Guest Ranch property on the West end of Elkhorn Ave in Estes Park turning it into a small scale ski area and 4 season recreation area. This historic property is one of the oldest continuously run historic properties in the country and unfortunately one of the most endangered. This is an exciting opportunity to renovate the old lodge, offer a year-round adventure and ski park for people of all ages.
The snow would obviously be man-made, with a chair lift to take you up the ski run, and an alpine coaster that could be used year-round. In the winter there would be skiing and snowboarding for beginners to intermediate levels, lessons for skiing and snow boarding, tubing, the alpine coaster, snow shoeing and ski biking.

Summer activities would include the alpine coaster, canopy tour or zip lines, mountain biking, hiking, fishing, horseback riding and mountain boarding. Pinch me please, can you believe this? The final, also very exciting, aspect would be an arts district with possibly a performing arts center.

The project developers are seeking the Town’s cooperation to be the applicant for state regional tourism funding via state sales tax incremental funds. The application must be completed by mid March so the presentation was made in a hasty manner and with apparently not enough details for the Town Trustees who varied from supporting the project to combative. The short time line is unfortunate because the town is only able to support it in name only not with any financial backing for the research. Frank Theis and Todd Jirsa made the presentation and have done an outstanding job researching and putting this together. I do want to thank the Trustees who are open to this concept and voted to support it. Continue to contact town board members and let them know your thoughts. Many many questions to consider but it’s nice to see people open to dialogue that will bring us closer to a clear concept of this project. We can’t know if this might work here if no one is willing to take a risk. Being a real estate professional here and also recently sitting on the Fine Arts Guild of the Rockies board I can see huge benefits for the entire town. We may not get a performing arts center built otherwise. I personally would really like to see it done soon so I can enjoy it.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this so please leave me comments here.