Manitou Art Center...

After our hiking trip we stopped in Manitou Springs to walk around and check out the shops. I have been to Manitou Springs for tons of times, but some how I have never been to the Art Center. Sam and I decided to check it out. It's a non-profit that shows art work for new artists and supplies studio space to the help artists get started. It was really neat. The fly sculpture was my favorite piece in their main gallery.

Hiking in the Springs...

Hiking in the Garden of the Gods.

 The views are amazing.

Temps were nearly 100 degrees on Friday, so our hike was short lived.

The red rocks really are breath taking.

Pottery painting...

On Samantha's 1st day in Denver we took a bus downtown to walk around. We hit up Ceramics in the City for some art time. Sam chose to paint a dog dish for George. I painted a ring holder and a tile to make into a trivet. After painting we went out for lunch, then walked around hanging up posters for Ideal Father's July 3rd BBQ Show, and scoping out all the thrift store and consignment shops along our route.

Westword Showcase...

The guys setting up @ Sutra.

This last weekend was the Westword's Annual Showcase and Ideal Fathers were once again asked to perform. They played @ Sutra again this year and the show went really well, even considering the fact that the guys were all exhausted. They played a show on Thursday night at lost lake, Adam played two shows that night if you remember. Both Adam & Mike King played two shows each during the showcase since they're both in another band. It was also an excruciatingly hot day for walking around to all the venues checking out all the bands. Jesse even momentarily fell asleep on our bus ride home, because he was so exhausted. It was a long day, but it was a good day and the temperature eventually cooled down in the afternoon.

Lost Lake...

Last Thursday the guys played at a venue called Lost Lake (aka someone's basement right out of the 70's). It came complete with wood paneling, amber glass lights, and tacky framed art work of wild animals. It was an odd shaped space, but Jesse used that to his advantage and roamed through the crowd while performing. It was a dual show for Adam, Ideal Father's guitarist. His new band Gangcharger were also playing, Adam is their bassist. It was sooooo dark in that basement like setting that getting pictures was a little difficult and you can almost see nothing on the videos I took. I wanted to get a clip of Gangcharger playing, so everyone could see the vast difference between the bands. Gangcharger has a lady singer and they are way more mellow. Her voice was sort of lulling me to sleep actually. It was late, I was tired, and she has that kind of voice. Here are some pictures...

 This is in the back room @ Lost Lake. I was in love with the lamp shown in the picture. They're definitely old and almost as tall as me. They had two of them and I wanted to take them home with me. *Note: They have a photo booth as well. Good to know that might come in handy later.

Gangcharger

Clean Clothes...

A few months back I caught an episode of TLC's 18kids and Counting, where the family shared their recipe for making their own laundry soap. They do this to surprise surprise save some money. Intrigued by the idea and by the fact that most if not all homemade detergent recipes are perfume free (you all know my sensitive skin issues) I decided to look into making my own. I did a little research online and found several websites with different variations on the recipe. The basic ingredients are a bar of scent free soap, borax, and washing soda. So far we've only tried one version and it seems to be working. It takes a little work on your part to make the detergent mix, but then it last for a long time. From what I've read most detergents end up coasting you around 45cents per load where in the end this concoction will cost you only pennies per load. Sounds good to me! and like I said Bonus it is perfume free which is great for my sensitive skin that tends to break out with most detergents. I also read somewhere that you really do not need detergent to clean your clothes. Apparently just agitation will clean them, but personally I prefer to use a little soap to ensure my things get nice and clean. When it comes to laundry we also avoid using the dryer. This saves us money (we live in an apartment, so you pay per load) and cuts down on the energy bill. We do this for several other reason as well. Our dryer is terrible it only partially dries most clothes and we live in Denver which has a very dry climate (our clothes air dry in almost no time). When we move I'm really going to miss that. I'll probably still hang things to dry though, because there just something nice about clothes that are dried in the fresh air.

Farmer's Market...

For quite some time now I have been wanting to go to check out some of the local farmer's markets. Recently I've heard really good things about an indoor farmers market not far from our house. Several of the families I nanny go to this market regularly, so I've had the pleasure of trying some of the delicious veggies. Last week I had some broccoli from the market that was so deep green and had a wonderful flavor. Since this weekend is supposed to be a lazy weekend for us we decided to check it out with no real agenda. We read some reviews on line, got the address, grabbed some bags, and headed down. There were wonderful samples at almost every station. The pasta station was awe inspiring and a bit overwhelming. I really wanted to get some, but we already have a good stock of pasta at home and I really just couldn't decide. We did however try some dark chocolate pasta, very interesting and very tasty. We ended up buying some fresh wheat bread, milk, 2 kinds of yogurt (blueberry & mango), ground buffalo, ground beef, asparagus, and kale. Thankfully the crazy rainy weather subsided just enough for Jesse to grill up some yummy burgers with the ground beef and I sauteed up some of the asparagus. Yum! We will definitely be heading back there on a regular basis.