These Are Strange Times…

Like most of you, over the past couple of months, Colorado has been completely shut down. Given my job as a nurse, Kev and I have been especially diligent in our self-quarantining. As a couple who typically is constantly on the go, we started to feel cooped up and stir crazy right around the 6 hour mark. As Kev puts it; I “don’t idle well”. In these unprecedented times, we have needed to become very creative about entertaining ourselves. After acknowledging that Tiger King was a complete waste of time (Carole definitely is guilty by the way), we committed ourselves to new endeavors. Reading, puzzles, Yahtzee, cards, Zoom calls, backyard workouts and those home improvement projects we’ve been putting off forever (in exchange for traveling on weekends) have all become front and center of our free time!

While these are all noble and fun activities, let’s be honest, Netflix is usually the path of least resistance! It has really been a struggle to not feel like bumps on logs so we worked to find a way that we could motivate ourselves to do the fun things that are more satisfying and fulfilling.

A saving grace and source of motivation for us has come in the form of our favorite local taqueria, Cochino Taco. Cochino has been the perfect “two birds with one stone” for us in quarantine! In addition to allowing us to still support a favorite local business, Cochino quickly became the focal point of every “date night”:  long walks with the pups to pick up tacos and a margaritas to go! (Pro tip: The long walks to pick up the food makes you feel less guilty about all the tacos you’re about to consume!)

While we’ve always been in love with this spot, our obsession with their takeout started on a walk, early in the Denver lockdown. As we were passing Cochino, we remembered Denver had just relaxed the rules and was allowing alcohol to go! Cochino’s frozen Paloma is our biggest weakness. Despite it being early in the afternoon, we didn’t even try to resist. We got some cocktails to go and made a bee-line for the house.

As we hurriedly made our way home we continued a conversation we were having about the difficulty in staying motivated to be remotely productive. In this moment, tacos and palomas in hand, we realized this was just the thing we needed!  This was carrot we would dangle in front of ourselves to serve as a reward for doing good things.

“If we can get this gardening finished, we can get Cochinos!”

“If we finish painting the siding on the house, we can reward ourselves with Cochinos!”

“If we complete this hard workout, then we can go for a walk and get some Cochinos!”

“Hey look! We survived another day of quarantine… we deserve Cochinos”

“Kev changed out of his pajamas before noon!? Let’s get Cochinos!”

This past week we took things to the next level and made a very intentional “date night” out of our normal takeout routine. We got dressed up (aka I put makeup on and Kev put on some actual pants for the first time in weeks), lit some candles, and had a great little date night on our patio at home!

Having something to anticipate, motivate and reward ourselves has been such a “pandemic essential” for us. It has driven real creativity and been the center of some incredible fun these past several weeks. We would love to hear about some of the things you have come up with during the lockdown to make life more interesting! What are some of those things that you will carry on doing, even when the world starts to open back up? Especially for those of us who are so active and always on the go, it is so important to appreciate those places that are so close to home. You can be sure that we will definitely be making that walk to our favorite spot all summer long!

Leave us a comment or reach out on Instagram and let us know your favorite spots and if you’re ever in our neck of the woods, you better believe that we’re taking a walk to go get some tacos!

Cochino Taco has been our favorite ever since we moved to the neighborhood shortly before Cochino Taco opened up. We bring everyone here! If you’ve ever come to visit from out of town and want to know the one “must-go” place, it’s Cochino Taco. There was even a time Kev’s sister and her husband were in town for a long layover and we made sure we checked “Cochino Taco” off the list of things to do!

Our favorites: (but you really can’t go wrong)

Appetizer – queso and chips (their seasoned tortilla chips are also perfect all on their own)

Tacos – carnitas, al pastor, barbacoa, and “get in my belly” pork belly

Drinks – frozen paloma, pineapple/jalapeño margarita, and the house margarita

– Missy