Hiatus!

You guys I am going on a blogging vacation for the next week!!!! Matt's family is all flying in this week so I will be busy spending my week with loved ones! ALSO.......while I am away my complete new blog design/re-branding is being created and should be up in a week or so!!!! I am so excited and hope everyone will love it!
I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July and I will be back before you know it!

Backyard Blowout for the 4th!

I have put together everything you need to host an AMAZING 4th of July Backyard Bash for Family or Friends! I have found the tools, the recipes and the extras all JUST for you!!!! All you need know is to purchase and plan!! I hope this will inspire you like it did for me.......

Backyard Blowout by nsavage featuring a woven mat

Pottery Barn patio outdoor
potterybarn.com

Crate and Barrel woven mat
crateandbarrel.com

Crate and Barrel blue and white pitcher
crateandbarrel.com

4th of July Cookie Cutter Set | Williams-Sonoma
williams-sonoma.com

Red Picnic Cooler | Crate and Barrel
crateandbarrel.com

Star Melamine Serving Set | Pottery Barn
potterybarn.com

BBQ Condiment Set | Williams-Sonoma
williams-sonoma.com

Fourth of July Recipes, Drinks, and Party Tips | Epicurious.com
epicurious.com

4th of July Cookie Recipe!
ahelicoptermom.com

Mid-Week Funny

You guys if this doesn't make you smile on this hump day then I don't know what to tell ya............

Tyrant

I love the debut of a new show, I just do.....it is something fun to look forward to and to then get into! There are 2 shows debuting this week that I have been waiting for.......Tyrant and The Leftovers!
Tyrant debuts on FX tonight and it looks so intriguing.....a passageway to a new place..............



Now The Leftovers has been on my "Must Read" book list for a few years now and it looks like HBO beat me to it!!! I love HBO shows.....the realness they can show and this entire premise is so captivating!! This show finally starts THIS sunday! Will you be watching???

My Life Lately in Pictures.....

My life the past few weeks have been filled with Date Nights, Picnics, Stapleton Farmers Market, Bike Rides, Snuggles and dinner on our patio! Enjoy...............

Summer!

 The Official start of Summer is this weekend and I have to say Summer is not my favorite season but this year I am going to try to embrace it as much as possible! As you can see "Baby Nicole" fully embraced Summer time with not only a Smurf pool but a very chic lounger as well!

Do you have any Summer Bucket List items???? Our Summer will be full of family visits, getting settled, working on the business and finding a suburb but why not create a list of fun too????

Savage Summer Bucket List

* Have a Picnic

* See the Mountains

* Spend a day in Estes Park

* See all Summer Blockbusters

* Play Tourist and visit a new CO city!

* Take the dogs on more walks

* Ride our bikes on cool days

* Eat healthy food at home

* Eat on Patios as much as we can!

* Keep our garden alive all Summer

Whats on your list???????

I Need Your Help!!!

I am sure you have noticed I am a few months over due on a new blog design!! I love my header right now...... "Okie in Ohio" but sadly "Okie in Colorado" doesn't have the same ring to it! I need a new TAG LINE!!! Nothing with Mile High in it.....maybe Elevated? Height? I seem to be in a rut and I can't think of anything clever and catchy that I like.....so I need you! I would love suggestions??? What should my tag line be under Sizzlin Savage???? You all know my blog.........

Life"Style" Elevated???? (the word style in a different font?) I dunno......... Maybe nothing having to do with Denver? Just a catchy tag line! 

Comment with suggestions or you can email me at nsavage@live.com

Next......new design!!!!! I found a few inspiration boards on Pinterest that I love, what are your thoughts?? Is there a color scheme you like?? Fonts?? Any other ideas????

I Just Want to Feel Better

 About 2 weeks ago I had a week with NO migraines......all week, like everyday all day. I literally could not believe it....it was the most wonderful thing ever! I was in a good mood, more productive, Matt and I went to a nice dinner and talked over wine, it was a wonderful week. But since I have had migraines non-stop. I always say it....I am sick of being sick and that is how I feel again right now. This below is me......and starting my new job with Matt and being on a computer all day is making everything worse. Why me?

 Lately I have been reading up on several migraine books by Doctors and Chefs plus doing non-stop research since traditional medicine and doctors are not helping me. And the thing is even after all this research........what in the world am I suppose to do!???? Here are the Top 3 Diet changes that all boast about their incredible results, testimonials and stories of people's lives being turned around......

Vegan
Being a vegan is known to help and so many people have told me this works, and from a humane animal perspective this is great....Great for me.....but is it the answer?

No Gluten or Sugar diet

This diet boasts all whole food.........Veggies, minimal meat but dairy and animal products are fine. This also says to skip citrus, processed and aged food. The results seem good for this too... but this is very different from being Vegan.

The last is the "List" of known food triggers and what not to eat......but not all of these could be my triggers? They are all random and no doctors seem to agree on the same types of food? Why can't the medical profession get it together?

So.......Which one? Maybe a weird combination of the 3 and call it the "Nicole"??? But another thing I have been thinking about is, if I know that a huge lifestyle change like this for me could potentially cut my migraines down immensely then why am I not doing it??? Why am I lazy? Why am I so stuck into the way I eat and cook now??? Sometimes I think I am so stupid not to jump on a change but these diets are not easy. I am doing more research, talking with Matt, bought some new cookbooks and I can do it! I have to.

This picture sums up my life perfectly......I sometimes sit and think what is it like to wake up normal? Really, what is it like?

Do you have thoughts on which of these I should do? Do you know someone? I would love to hear all testimonials that I can! Leave me a comment or shoot me an email at nsavage@live.com

House Hunting Adventures!

Matt and I will be in our town home until Feb 2015 which seems far off but it really isn't. We are leaning towards building a home which will take about 8 months which would be a great timeline! With the prices out here I just am not finding ANY resale homes I like and I would rather spend my money on things we pick out and LOVE!!!
We have spent most weekends "Suburb Shopping"and although we have found many suburbs we love finding the right combination of affordability, location and what the community has to offer is the hard part!! We love living where we live now but it also happens to be one of the most expensive places you can live....so unless we win the lotto we will be heading to the 'burbs. In fact Stapleton where we live is home to one of the HGTV Dream Homes.....I know, right???
I made you guys a quick slideshow of some of our favorite homes that builders are offering "around" our price range!!! And let me tell ya........ Denver is SOOOOOO expensive, it is unreal. I mean we aren't in Oklahoma or Ohio anymore!!!!
Enjoy.......

A little house hunting

Welcome to District 20....

I am going to give you a tour of something Matt and I are really proud of, the reason we moved to Denver........Matt to take over Farmers Insurance District 20! In fact the only thing he took over was the District itself......the location, office, design and staff Matt (and I) have started from scratch!!!

The office is located in Lakewood in the new trendy area called Belmar! (about 14 miles from where we live now) This area is filled with shopping, living, offices, Whole Foods, places to eat..... you name it! Our office is located on the 4th floor of a bank building!

Welcome............

This space when Matt found it was bare bones....all white, old carpet and brown cabinets and what he/we were able to do in 3 months is pretty cool!!!

 We picked out paint, flooring, counter tops, all furniture for each room, decor, office supplies.............

 And I got to design the front lobby and piece it together......... You will be shocked to know that most of the furniture in this room came from Target, rug included. The vintage prints we were able to purchase from Farmers.

 The blue is actually "Farmers Blue" the paint color they recommend online for their offices. It worked out great huh? Matt and I wanted this to be a contemporary office that would wow people! We want people to love the place they work.... because this is an extension of us.

This is really a piece of Matt's personality.....I filled this lamp with used golfballs.....and the silver vase next to it is filled with Golf Tee's! I will say he has pillaged some balls since for "office golf"! (shame shame)

 These 2 tables come together for a unique coffee table........ I like how it is a little "rustic" mixed into this contemporary office and the grey really fits in with all the brushed silver we have used!

I am proud of this......we are District 20 so I found these two at Home Goods as a modern take on our district number lettering! We stuck with Farmers colors by bringing in the Red!

Here is Matt doing his thing in the corner office......not bad views huh???

 His office is always a little messy but that is Matt......and he also has a flat screen TV mounted on a wall!

 Look at this view....... This is from Matt's office........

We have a really large room in the back that is our "Bull Pen"....when an agent is first starting and training you aren't usually able to run out and purchase/lease space so we offer 6+ office spaces! We already have 2 agents working in here! Matt and I picked out all this at Ikea!

 Here is our break room......it's nice to have the dishwasher, microwave and all that!!

Here is the conference/training room that Matt holds all District meetings........the TV is actually used as a computer screen for power point presentations!

 And Matt painted the entire training room with white board paint and trimmed it out to look professional! We love this aspect.....so much room to work!

 Back behind that wall is the copier, supplies, file cabinets....the usual you name it. And we were able to get granite on the counters in the supply room too!

 Here is my little slice of life........ Yup, you heard me.....I started Monday morning as Matt's Executive Assistant! I am getting use to a new routine and learning the ropes too!
We also have 4 personal offices housing 2 full time recruiters and 1 will have an Agency Business Consultant in it that we just hired today!!! I have been slowly decorating their offices also!

 Hope you all liked the tour!!! What do we do????
Recruit and hire new agents, train new agents, provide continued Ed for older agents, run promotions, ensure the district hits it's goals and I could go on and on!!!!!!