Denver - part 1 - about my new home

Good morning from Denver!!!! I will do this intro in several sections.. There are too much to share and I live on a weak WiFi signal stolen from "the Tippers" (some neighbors) who were kind enough not to put password on their system.. God bless their heart and keep them in their good habit for the next two months... When I leave I might want to warn them of the vulnerability of their system... But anyways...

This is my very first weekend in the "Mile High City." As you can see - I live in a very nice neighborhood - a big big change after my St. Louis home. Stapelton is part of Denver and it is a new urban develoment that has been built during the past few years.
Have a look at their website it is very neat!
http://www.stapletondenver.com/main.asp

You can see some maps, photos, events, and homes... I love that they call it "an urban tapestry" - don't ask me why but this expression makes me think of Scheherazade and The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (in case you don't know it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Book_of_One_Thousand_and_One_Nights)... and the little city reminds me of the TV show Desperate housewives and also The Stepford wives... It feels a little bit too designed, artificial, but very clean, wonderful walking trails, pools (yes - I will try to go this weekend), stores, restaurants...
Let's see - they have (SURPRISE:-)) Starbucks (with no free WiFi - "they no nice":-), Einstein bagels (with free WiFi but closed after 4-5 pm - how crazy it is...), a bunch of restaurants (noodle place, mexican, cafes), a local grocery store with yummie pastries... (I don't even think about going close to them) and tasty - juicy fruits (cherry, apricot, peach from the other side of the valley)... These are places that I found so far... but somewhere, hidden among the colorful homes there are nice places such as clothes stores:-)) - outdoor activity stores...I have to find them soon.

Stapelton was originally the old airport - you can still see the tower and the parking garage:


AND HERE COMES THE VERY BEST... These new urban developments are walkable, not too sprawled, safe, and you can exercise. They are the big big dreams of public health... At least we assume that they will encourage people to live healthier, move around more by "making the healthy choice the easy choice"... So there is this study that Ross and Christy (one of my recently PhD-ed colleaugues) are working on and about a year ago I helped them identifying these new urban communities. The study will compare these lovely, ideal communities with less walking friendly and livable neighborhoods for physical activity levels, weight...etc. (I forgot if they will take a longitudinal or cross-sectional approach)... But the only reason I bore you with this is as follows: Stapelton is one of the intervention communities in the study!!! It is funny to think that I live in one of our study communities...:-)) I already have some concerns re: confounders...

The neighborhood is extremely safe! It is a wealthier crowd and mainly families with kids... I am so lucky that my landlady, Anna-Maria (who is single) was willing to share her home with me... It is an enormous house... I have my own bedroom and bathroom:



Anna Maria loves to paint!!! This is her hobby which means that she climbs on double ladders to reach the top of the wall... and this home has extremely high ceilings especially in the living room area... She chose different colors for her living room (chocolate brown), her bedroom (wine red), her hall that connects her bedroom with her enormous bathroom (olive green)... My bedroom is still white and waiting for a nice color soon... My bathroom is a dream!!! I love the soft, chocolate brown towels with nice silk ribbons on them (not for use, strictly decoration - that's so much my style:-) - the small baskets with little bottles of lotions, oils... the shower curtain is fantastic... I love mine in St Louis but this one is even more elegant (golden)... And everything works fine... there are no tricks in the bathroom - the shower does not burn or freeze you - I start to appreciate the advantages of newly built homes...

And I am lucky again - she also works for Kaiser so she takes me to work every morning and takes me home after work... She is a sweetheart... Later I will try to post some photos of her...