Autumn ABCs: Animals, Brews, and Concerts

School is ramping up and fall has definitely arrived. There was a quick snow flurry yesterday (it didn't stick) and it was under 45º all day! I love summer, but fall definitely takes the cake for my favorite season. There's usually so much going on and the weather is fantastic.

Last week, I had a cute little squirrel visit me at my doorstep! One of my favorite memories of being a young kid in Washington state was hand-feeding our backyard squirrels. They would come back year after year, and it was always so fun to interact with them. I saw this little guy scurry down the stairs outside my front window and I quickly grabbed a handful of no-salt dry-roasted peanuts from my pantry, opened my door, and started trying to entice him over. He fell for it! I enjoyed about ten minutes of over-the-top adorableness while he was chomping down one-by-one on a couple of dozen peanuts. I hope he comes back around sometime! If he does, I shall call him Peanut. :)

In addition to the abundance of squirrels, another one of my favorite parts of fall is the abundance of delicious beer. In Denver, good beer is a year 'round perk, but October brings pumpkin-flavored everything, more stouts and porters showing up on tap, and Oktoberfest! Last week, a bunch of Korbel folks met for beers at Renegade, an excellent brewery with a tap room near campus. Hanging out with the crew around town is always a good time. Over the weekend, a few of us went into downtown for Denver's annual Oktoberfest celebration. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed people watching, cheering on the contestants in the stein-hoisting competition, and eating brats. A good occasion for getting into the spirit of fall. :)

The Korbel crew at Renegade Brewery.

Finally, the concerts! Since Denver is a middle-US hub of sorts, lots of great bands and artists stop through town during their tours. Denver also has several awesome small venues, which are my favorite for seeing live music. On Friday night, I saw Citizen Cope at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood. He was amazing!! I started hearing about his music during high school, but didn't get into his stuff until late in college. He has so much talent. Even though he was battling a cold, he still gave an awesome acoustic performance to a pretty full house. I had a great seat, too. I'm very glad I took the occasion to see him play!

Tonight, I saw Chris Thile at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts right on the DU campus (it's a 2-minute walk from my front door - YES). The bummer is that the theater prohibits taking photos during shows, but I did manage to snap a panorama of the theater before the performance:

Now, let me tell you about Chris Thile: He's a mandolin player, and he's incredible. The first time I saw him perform was with the bluegrass/folk/country band Nickel Creek in 2003 (if I remember correctly). They played at John T. Floor's in Helotes, Texas and my dad and I went to the show together. That was TEN YEARS AGO!! Wow. My dad and I saw them again in 2006 with my mom in Portland, OR. After Nickel Creek stopped making records, Thile went out on his own, and man oh man, since the last time I saw him live, his talent has positively exploded. Tonight, he played everything from traditional bluegrass to a Fiona Apple cover to Bach. He's very engaging with his audience and his skill blows me a way. It's always a pleasure to watch and listen to an artist that is really 'at one' with their instrument. 

Annnnnnnnnnnd things are getting intense with school! I have my first paper due in just over a week (eek!!) and it's already week 5 of 10. Yikes. Back to studying for me! :)