Whoa buddy, summer is DEFINITELY here.

It is SCORCHING hot here. I suppose this is basically the desert, but still, whoa. I’m not sure I was expecting this.

Certainly it’s hot in Nashville and St. Louis, the other two cities where I’ve spent the most time, but everyone’s like, “Oh, it’s not so bad out here – there’s no humidity.” Well, this is true, but a lack of humiduty doesn’t make days over 100 any more bearable when they’re bone dry. This is still rough, particularly with no A/C.

Even worse is the fact that this state is on FIRE. I wish I were kidding.

Despite the constant feeling that raises goosebumps on my skin every time I hear more news about the fires burning around my new state, I’m very much enjoying this summer. Is it weird that I just kinda feel like I’m waiting for ski season to start back up? You can have summer, world. I want snow, snow, and more snow.

But in fact, this has been a rad summer. I’ve had some visitors the past few weeks, which makes for exceptionally fun (and busy!) weekends. Two weeks ago, my best friend Tori and our good friend Mara both flew out to visit. Somehow, we managed to jam it all in. We did so much! Between lovely meals at some of my favorite spots like Linger and The Cozy Cottage, outdoorsy activities at Red Rocks and Mt. Sanitas, and nights out dancing at Herb’s and Jazz in the Park, we found time to catch up on each other’s lives and gab about the kind of stuff that only close girl friends can. It was sooooo necessary.

The festivities kept going after Tori and Mara left, because a few of my former coworkers flew to town to enjoy Denver with all of the girls from my old company who currently live here. It was super fun! A mini-Emma reunion that reminded me just how lucky I was to spend some formative professional years at a company filled with totally amazing and lovely people. We drank and hiked and gabbed and generally had a really grand time.

The overall goodness of the weekend definitely overshadowed the fact that Saturday was my first attempted BIG hike (James Peak is a 13er), and we had to bail due to weather. I hope I get to try it again! My gauge of “difficulty” has most definitely changed since I moved out here. The hike was close to 3 hours long and involved scampering over a giant glacier for a big portion of the trek, but I threw a little hissy fit when we turned around because I was hoping to be out for like, 7 hours. Who am I???

This past weekend was also one for the books. Three in a row!

Friday kicked off the weekend with a Denver-wide agency kickball tournament, so I spent the day drinking in the sun with all of my coworkers. It was awesome, at least the parts I remember.

Saturday followed with another epic sun and fun event called the Westword Music Showcase. It’s an annual day-long music festival hosted in downtown Denver, with over 150 bands and a dozen venues participating. Everything was short walking distance and accessible with the festival wristband, so my crew biked over in the early afternoon to the spend the day drinking, dancing, and carrying on. It was blisteringly hot, but the booze and tunes kept me going. I literally danced for almost 8 hours straight.

Some highlights of the day included Baywood, Boyhollow, Mancub, Pink Hawks, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. I will not, however, recommend Girl Talk. Let me get up on my high horse and say that his music is totally unoriginal and boring, however danceable. I will not be seeing him again unless it’s free. Not worth it when there are so many actual artists out there making original music.

Anyway! So life is really just basically awesome. My options for this coming weekend include a trip to Vail, or perhaps Wyoming, or perhaps two nights of shows and dancing. I have a day off next week (!!!), and then another rad weekend of shows, and after that my best friend from childhood is visiting. Oh, and did I mention that I’m moving?

Nope, life doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon. Until next time, friends!