A Day In the Life of Kristin Rollins Menzie

Murphy at Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:21:00 +0000

We're gearing up for Murphy's first Halloween in our house in a real neighborhood. I expect lots of trick or treaters... people are serious about Halloween here in Rock Creek. There are lots of Halloween decorations!

Last Days of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:59:00 +0000

I start my new job tomorrow! The past week has been crazy. We successfully moved in to our new place and have most of the boxes out of the main living area and can nearly park one car in the garage. Kevin and I have been scoping out new furniture and hope to build a fence, but otherwise the place needs very little extra work.

Our friendly new neighbors gave us tickets yesterday to the Rockies game last night. We usually make it to about one game a year and we hadn't made it this season yet. Unfortunately, the Rockies lost, but we had a nice time there.

I'll post pictures of the new place soon!

We are going to miss this place...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:16:00 +0000

I'm getting pretty nostalgic about leaving our place. I know we will love our new house, but the view we are leaving is so beautiful. Last night, we shared a bottle of wine out on the patio and watched bunnies, birds, Murphy, and neighbors out in grass and the open space and finally a SPECTACULAR goodbye sunset. You can see why we'll miss this!

This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:26:00 +0000

The past few weeks have been busy on the house/job search front. I've been packing up the house and coordinating contractors to fix items on the inspection list, Kevin has been very, very busy with work, and poor Murphy got neutered yesterday. Of course, I am a bit nastalgic about leaving our place- I'm sure we will never have a view or wildlife like we have now. There have been beautiful sunsets, egrets, and foxes. This morning I even scared away three raccoons fighting (they were LOUD!) Finally, Kevin and I celebrated our third anniversary this week with a nice night out in Boulder. It's been fun!

Beautiful view of the Indian Peaks from our front porch

Kevin and I in front of Conor O'Neill's Irish Pub in Boulder where we met

Our Baby's Getting Bigger!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Folks have been asking for updated pictures of Murphy! His energy is a bit more modulated these days and he can entertain himself a bit without destroying things. He had a great visit to Utah with his grandpa and "uncle" Riley. He has started obedience classes and attends a small dog play group and everyone things he's the cutest dog around. Kevin and I both agree he has brought a lot of joy to our lives. Here ya go!

Five Second Clips from our Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:17:00 +0000

It was impossible to capture the over-stimulating sounds and sights of the places we visited through still photography alone. We took over 100 short video clips with out little point and shoot camera, which Kevin has compiled into a video. Enjoy!

Five Seconds in Japan and Thailand from Kevin Menzie on Vimeo.

Tokyo, Thailand, Boston and back- barely

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:31:00 +0000

On July 5 I took, and passed (yeah!), my PT licensing exam. I drove straight from the test to take the dog to the airport to meet my dad, who would take him to Utah to stay with my parents for 3 weeks. And then it was a frantic day of packing before we left on our adventure!

We began this adventure in Tokyo. We arrived and headed over to the fancy Penninsula Hotel to meet Kevin's Uncle Don, in town on business, for drinks on the top floor. Over the next three days we experienced the Imperial Palace and gardens, the Tsukiji fish market, the electronic district, the lights of Shibuya and Shinjuku, traditional japanese theater, buddhist temples and shinto shrines and awesome sushi! I am so thankful I didn't listen to the lady from the state health department that recommended that I not eat sushi! Kevin and I were totally awed by the extremely orderly, neat way that the japanese create peaceful space for themselves within such a massive city. Subways and trains were silent- everyone was texting on cell phones but no one talked. The city was so clean- we even saw a man scraping the dirt by hand from the grout between tiles in the subway station. And the city was a fantastic mix of super modern electronics, light and sound and traditional temples, geisha, and tea ceremonies.

On day four we boarded what we thought would be a short flight (turned out to be 6 hours!) to Bangkok and then another flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had arranged in advance for a private trek through the hill tribes of Chiang Dao and this turned out to be the absolute highlight of our trip. It wasn't so much what you think of trekking as a four hour hike (which was difficult) and then being shuttled to a bunch of touristy things. We had a great guide, who spoke fluent english, who explained everything to us from the food to the culture and how the society views the current king (they adore him). We climbed in caves, saw a traditional rural market, hiked, rode elephants, and rode a bamboo raft down the Ping river.

Once back in Chiang Mai, we toured the city's temples, or Wats, and took a cooking class. If you come over, I promise we will cook for you. It was amazing! We even rented a motor bike and navigated through the extremely scary Thai mountain roads to see Doi Suthep, a mountaintop Wat. Oh, did I mention our house got an offer and we went under contract while we were in Chiang Mai?

After Chiang Mai we headed down to Phuket. I was so curious how the tsunami had affected things and while the idea of it lingered in my head, we were hard pressed to find outward signs of the destruction four years ago. Most glaring were the tsunami warning signs posted everywhere. We took a boat out to Ko Phi Phi, the island from the movie The Beach, and one of the hardest hit islands in the tsunami. The beach was gorgeous from far away, but up close was covered in trash and tourists. Our guide explained that the trash is partly from lazy tourists, but also from the corrupt government officials that man the beach and don't clean it up. As it was the monsoon season, we had our rainiest day in Phuket, which meant not a lot of time to sit at the beach or by the pool. But we did manage to catch a few rays and a coconut cocktail! Our resort was ultra modern and very chic- themed after an old tin mine that had the same spot. We were upgraded to a private villa and felt like royalty in our little corner of paradise!

Finally we we returned to Bangkok, where we were greeted by our friends Banc and Holly. They just moved to Bangkok from Boulder and it was great to have dinner with them and get the inside scoop on the town. Our final day in Thailand was spent looking at a bunch of Wats, the Grand Palace, and on a long boat canal tour through some of Bangkok's pungent neighborhoods.

You can see all of my pictures on Flickr here.

We zig-zagged our way home to Denver on the 22 and were to leave again on the 24 for Boston where Kevin was best man in his best friend's wedding. I think Kevin best describes the unimaginable trouble we had getting to Boston in his own blog. One of the highlights of our trip back to Boston was breaking into his mom's house because our flights were cancelled. Seriously. Kevin climbed in through the window. I came home via Salt Lake City to get our beloved puppy, now a full 6" longer and cute as can be. Kevin and I are amazed that all that is going on with us right now. We are off to go house hunting tonight, the job I had lined up here has fallen apart and now I need a job, and our lives are charging forward! One thing I do know, I don't really want to travel for a little while!

My First Aquabike

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:52:00 +0000

Kristin's Aqua Bike from Kevin Menzie on Vimeo.

I had just started to like triathlons when my knee really began to bother me with running a few years ago. Thankfully, they have an event out there called an Aquabike- a triathlon minus the run! Yesterday, I headed up to Loveland, Colorado for the Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon and Aquabike. It was a blast! It started with a 1500 meter swim in chilly Lake Loveland. I was chastised for not practicing in a wet suit. Somehow I arrogantly assumed since I am a decent swimmer I shouldn't have to do that. I did ok, but it would have been helpful to have thought things through a little better! Next came a 30 mile bike ride around Loveland. The course was beautiful and took me past Horsetooth Reservoir (site of a 10K swim that I am interested in doing one year). Again, a little more advanced planning and training could have come in handy- I had only done one training ride that rivaled the distance that I raced. However, I finished and placed second in the women under 40 category! I even got a snazzy medal.

The day was really fun because my friend, Sara, also did the race (although she got to tack on a 10k run to her day), I got to see many friends from the DU Masters swim team, and Kevin and Murphy cheered me on. Kevin made this great little video of the day!

Mother-Daughter Graduation Trip to San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:55:00 +0000

I just returned from a very special graduation trip with my mom to San Francisco and Sonoma. I haven't taken a trip alone with my mom in years and it was wonderful getting so much time with her last week. We had a great time seeing all the sights in the city such as Alcatraz, the SF Museum of Modern Art, shopping in Union Square, fish sandwiches on Fisherman's Wharf, and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. We have a few good family/school friends in the city and caught up with them too for dinner in the Mission and in Berkeley. Following our time in the city, we went up into Sonoma for wine tasting. We started at Gloria-Ferrer for some champange and then continued into the magnificent Dry Creek Valley to Lambert Bridge, Ferrari-Careno, and Sbagia. I really enjoyed the different scenery up there and sweeping views of the valley. Finally we stopped at Cline Cellars on our way back to the airport. My mom was a great travel companion and both of us took advantage of the laid-back schedule and sleeping in. It was such a treat and I hope that I have the opportunity to travel with her again sometime soon!

Mom riding an "old fashioned" piece of equipment. It was a fork lift.

Mom eyeing the fish sandwiches

Mom and I eating lunch in San Francisco

Meeting up with Julie (and Dave) for some dinner and gellato in Berkeley.

Wine tasting in Sonoma

Finally! You may call me Dr. Menzie!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:22:00 +0000

Today marked the culmination of 13 straight semesters on my quest to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy. I was surrounded by my family, friends and classmates as my degree was conferred and I was hooded. It was exhilarating.

Last night around 2am, I started to feel a little panicked as the reality of graduating set in. Primarily I am sad that I will probably never see many of my classmates and dear friends again. Next, I'm expected to go out and work and treat patients and make them better ALL ON MY OWN now! Deep down I know I can do it, but it still is daunting.

Thanks to everyone that has been in my life over the past 4 years from getting me beyond my old job to look at PT, getting in to school and making it through. Some describe PT school as the fastest and longest 3 years of your life and I have to agree. Here's the next chapter in my life!

See all the pictures from the day on Flickrhere.

Me with Dr. Bookstein and Paul Mintken, Ashley and Ali

Our class President, Michael, is hooded on behalf of our entire class at the University-wide graduation ceremony.

My friends Ashley, Ali, and me

Very dear friends Kristin and Ali

Kristin, Ali, Michelle and me at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus graduation!

One of my favorite faculty members, Ed Melanson, and me

Family Christmas card picture!

Our New Puppy

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:19:00 +0000

If you know me, you know that I have wanted a dachshund puppy of my own for years. As a graduation gift, my parents helped make that dream come true and Kevin and I picked out our new little buddy this morning. This 9-week old black and tan puppy has yet to be named (suggestions welcome), but we are quickly falling in love with him. We had to stop with him at Pet Smart on the way home to get all the necessary supplies and everyone cooed and gave him lots of adoring attention. He is very, very sweet!

Kevin with our puppy (on the right) and his brother.

#31

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:24:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to me! Monday was a rough day for a birthday, but I managed to celebrate with my girlfriends from school on Tuesday night at Steuben's in Denver. Kristin, Michelle, Ali and I had a nice dinner and fun catching up from our 8 months apart in clinic. 31 is so anticlimactic after last year. Now I'm a "30-something." Hmmm...

Graduation: Round 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:08:00 +0000

This past weekend has been so chaotic and fun. The entire Menzie clan was together for my sister-in-law, Heather's, graduation from Naropa with her Masters in Transpersonal Psychology with an emphasis on Wilderness Therapy. What a special occasion for which we all joined together!

I reflected on how different Heather's graduate school experience has been from my own. While I think we both were in programs that reflected our own personalities, I acknowledge how important a combination of modern medicine and contemplative, transpersonal, or spiritual approaches are important to our overall well-being. I believe there is a time and a place for each and that one without the other leads to care that fails to address the entire person.

I just finished my final piece of academic work for graduate school- this morning I presented my capstone project to my classmates. Yesterday I celebrated my 31st birthday. What an exciting and somewhat overwhelming week! Heather's graduation helped to kick off a very celebratory two weeks in my life. Presently I'm sitting at home in silence and wondering what the heck I'm going to do with myself. All this work. Four and a half years- 13 semesters- of work are coming to a culmination. It's a crazy, scary and satisfying feeling all in one.

Breathe...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Yesterday marked the end of an era: the era in which I pay to work. I have spent 44 weeks of my physical therapy education in clinical internships. The last rotation was at The Children's Hospital satellite site in Littleton. I loved my rotation there. I loved working with the kids, I really enjoyed my clinical instructors, and I found Children's to be a great place to work. Now it's time to figure out where I end up working. I have a few things in the pipeline that are very exciting, but I must present my capstone project, graduate, and pass my boards before I'm officially a full-fledged PT.

To thank people at Children's yesterday, I made some cupcakes (of course), with a theme of teddy bars in a ball pit! They were a hit!

Last night I met a few friends from school in Denver to celebrate. It will be fun to see everyone, like Kristin and Heather, when I return to campus next week. It will also be fun to see the new campus- it has moved to Fitzsimmons since we were last there. We will get to enjoy the brand new campus for a whopping 2 weeks. We all think it's funny that when we interviewed we got a tour of the campus in anticipation that most of our education would be there. Well, at least we get to see it a little.

Finally, it's spring and beautiful and I get to be outside and take advantage of the weather a bit. I love my tulips that I planted last fall. They keep getting more and more pretty.

Cupcake mania!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:12:00 +0000

We were baking away last weekend! In the past, Kevin has used ideas from a book called "Hello, Cupcake!" They have lots of fun ideas. However, last weekend, Kevin designed two of his own: worms coming out of a hole and bears on surfboards. I contributed a bit more this time to actual assembly of the cupcakes and I think they turned out great! What do you think?

Pirates of Petzance

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Spring's arrival is marked for me by the Boulder Valley Humane Society's annual auction and fundraiser, Puttin' On the Leash. This year's theme was Pirates of Petzance and it was a hoot. Kevin and I volunteer each year as silent auction gatherers. What that really means is we get to go and enjoy the event and then volunteer for 90 minutes at the end picking up the winnings of the guests. The event raises about $300,000 each year for homeless animals at the shelter. The shelter is so important because it will put any dog that is not vicious or terminally ill up for adoption (it's not a "No Kill" shelter, but it's close) and will bring in dogs from other area shelters that are adoptable, but would have otherwise been put down. HSBV also has a clinic attached to it that provides tons of free medical care to animals that are in need. Of course, there were plenty of dogs in attendance. Above you'll see me meeting Lulu, a graduate of HSBV.

Worn out

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Asleep

Wishing I was asleep

I have been utterly exhausted at the end of each work week. After 12 weeks of 12 hour days and long commutes, my little body just gave up. I woke up with the stomach flu on Saturday morning. And that's how I missed the last day of the ski season and didn't get to work on my final project for school. Instead I spent the majority of the weekend on the couch either asleep or wishing I was asleep.

Kevin, Kevin, Cupcake Baker

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Last night I hosted the inaugural book club for a group of 10 ladies at my house. I haven't been to a book club in a long time and I was quickly reminded that a) book club isn't as much about the book as catching up with the girls, b) wine is a must, c) dessert is essential, and d) not everyone reads the book. I chose the book, The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay. It is a fantastic book about a boy in South Africa and it inspired African-themed wine and cuisine.

While at the same toy store with the dachsies (yesterday's post), Kevin picked up a cupcake cookbook. Kevin loves to eat cupcakes and has a definite flair for creative desserts. And he loves to document things with his snazzy iPhone. Below is Kevin's documentary of baking these awesome giraffe cupcakes. I have to say, he got kudos from the ladies last night!

If I Can't Have a Real Dog...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:40:00 +0000

Kevin and I have been on the verge of getting a miniature black and tan smooth haired male dachshund for a few years. We're so practical that something always gets in the way of getting a dog. I think I may have to start a collection of stuffed dachsies if this all doesn't work out soon. I found these two little guys at a toy store today. Made me say, for the millionth time, "I want a dog."

State Swim Meet 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:32:00 +0000

I have to admit, I'm pretty stoked about how well I swam this weekend. With my crazy and somewhat inflexible internship schedule, I have worked really hard to try to get in three swims a week for the past two months in preparation for the state meet. I knew after my first event yesterday, the 200 yd freestyle, that my taper worked. In fact, I got personal bests in all of my events- 500 yard freestyle, 200 yard IM, and the 100 breast. Well, I should clarify... when we refer to PR's, Masters swimmers generally refer to their current life, not their past life as a swimmer. We were all faster at some previous point in our lives, but we're not 18 and carefree anymore, are we? Anyway, I felt good in the water and it was a blast!

Swimming is definitely something that I have enjoyed getting back into. The DU Aquaholics are a fun bunch of people and it was actually fun to sit around the pool deck for two days and hang out with them. I may consider going to nationals next year too. No, no, no. It's not what you think. I'm not THAT fast. You see, there are qualifying times for nationals, but you can also go without meeting the qualifying times. Doesn't completely make sense, but it does sound fun!

Monday Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Kevin Turns 33

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:11:00 +0000

Kevin celebrated his 33rd birthday this past Tuesday. I normally have Tuesdays off, so I was able to dedicate much of the day to baking a special birthday cake for him. I had originally planned to make a cake with special frosting of his Aunt Patty's, but he informed me the day before that he really likes cheap frosting. So, I baked four cakes, layered them with raspberry jam (another Kevin favorite) and iced it with canned frosting. Target is a great place to come up with cake decorating ideas and I was able to find some fun Star Wars Legos to build for cake toppers. Admittedly, putting the legos together took about as much time as baking the cake!

Kevin requested dinner at the Melting Pot, so we had a delicious dinner there followed by cake at home, opening cards, and presents. I hope he had a fun day, as I know I had fun preparing it!

Help! I'm stuck inside on a sunny day!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:41:00 +0000

One more reason I can't wait to be done with graduate school. My handy dandy thermometer tells me it is 73 degrees outside. I have the windows open wide, can hear the cheering from a nearby baseball game, and can see people walking their dogs and riding their bikes. And I am stuck inside working on Patient Care Seminar III. Again. This is the fifth year in a row I have been tortured by homework on an unusually warm March day. ***sigh***

Ok. Enough complaining (and procrastinating...)

5th Annual Menzie Oscar Party

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:21:00 +0000

Sunday marked our 5th Annual Menzie Oscar Party. We had fun voting for our favorite movies in friendly competition. Kevin and I had tried hard to see so many of the nominees, but of course the one movie we hadn't seen was No Country for Old Men.

Kevin's college buddy, Louie, proudly regained his title this year with the help of his new little daughter. It was so fun to have everyone together!

Skiing/Swimming Frenzy!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Menzie) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:58:00 +0000

I got my butt kicked in a swim meet this morning. I swam in the 29th Annual Loveland Sweetheart Meet. I thought I would at least get some ribbons out of the deal, but the heart-emblazoned ribbons I was told about were nowhere to be found after the races. I'm not sure what I expected from myself in the races since I rarely make it to practice even twice a week. I guess my bike riding isn't really carrying over to swimming (probably because I hardly kick). Anyhow, I made it through the 100 breaststroke, 200 IM, and 200 free and at least proved to myself that I could dive off the blocks and my goggles won't fall off! The star of the meet was a 63 year old man who broke the world record in the 100 fly (in his age group). Wow! He was ripped and it was very impressive to see him beat the pants off all the younger guys. In addition, I have started to hear more about the American swimmers gearing up for the summer Olympics (sad to hear one of Janet Evan's records was broken) and the Canadian National Team is currently training at the DU pool for high altitude training. I love, love, love the Olympics and can't wait until swimming gets lots of t.v. coverage. Makes me love my sport even more!

On Tuesday, I met up with my friend Ali for a fantastic day of skiing. It was sunny and warm and included beer and french fries. The snow was great and it was so fun to catch up with her. She's doing her rotation at Howard Head in Vail so we don't get to see each other much. What a great day!