Ski trips, Snow Dances & Sales!

My next few weekends were just as much fun as the first two of the new year. I told you I had a lot to look forward to!

The third weekend of the new year, the long weekend of MLK Day, my parents were in town for ski trips. I make that plural because they each were on their own ski trip, although they did overlap slightly. In honor of them being in town, I took Friday off work and headed up the mountain directly after work on Thursday. I spent Friday skiing with my mom and brother, and my dad arrived in the afternoon with one of his friends (he was on a "man-cation" with some of his friends - this is why it was 2 separate trips, you see). After spending the afternoon with us, he and his crew of friends went on to Steamboat Springs, while Mom, Brother and I stayed with my Aunt & Uncle in Silverthorne.

The next day was Saturday, and my mom wanted to take a day off skiing, so we did out next favorite thing to do in Summit County - shop the outlets!! And boy did I find some gooood sales! I need to brag for just a minute and tell about the deals I found at Eddie Bauer. First though, you must know I had been wanting this thigh length down jacket since approximately November (p.s. Confession: that's not the exact same jacket, because it was an outlet store which has different products than the retail website, but it's close enough you can get the idea). Anyway, I had been holding out on making this purchase just hoping it would go on sale. Jackpot! Patience wins again. I got the jacket plus 4 sweaters all for $30 less than the original cost of the coat. How awesome is that?! Pretty awesome, I know.

My mom was leaving the next day, so after some serious shopping I headed on to Steamboat Springs to spend the rest of my long weekend with my dad and his buds. I had never been to Steamboat in the winter, so I was really looking forward to snowboarding there. I had heard fantasies about the champagne powder this resort always boasts, but unfortunately I didn't have high hopes due to the poor snow reports all around Colorado this year. Good thing too; I would have been sorely disappointed if I had been expecting anything more.

The snow was really pretty awful; I was riding on pebbles, twigs, and weeds just as much as I was on snow. I have to hand it to them though, they did have a lot more runs open than any other resort I have been to this year. It just wasn't as well maintained. Then again, Dad and I didn't really know the mountain or where the best places to ride were. We asked some locals and they sent us over to the blue area of the mountain. We thought that would be great, but turns out Steamboat's rating system is a little different than the mountains we're used to. The blues were rather gradual and quite a few beginners were over there. When we realized this, we headed over to the black runs, which were more comparable to blue runs at say, Keystone. Our day got much better at this point. We weren't dodging beginners, spending times on cat tracks, or getting bored. We had a great afternoon and called it a day after a full day of sunshine & fun.

We decided not to ski on Monday because of a combination of reasons: it was crowded because of the long weekend, it is expensive, I would have to leave early to miss traffic and an impending snow storm, and the snow was awful. Dad would have the rest of the week to get in some days skiing, and I was fine to take it easy and hang out around town. So that's exactly what we did. And it was wonderful! Plus, I got a really cute headband/ear-warmer thing. I'll have to show you another time. Luckily for my dad and the guys, the snow moved in that afternoon and they got 11" plus another 8-10" later in the week. Not so lucky for me, I was driving home in a white-out at occasional locations. Honestly, it wasn't too bad.

The very next weekend, it was Donnie's birthday, and we had a couple friends who happened to be in town. To celebrate, we spent the day at A-Basin, then headed down to Golden for dinner and beers, and finished out the night at Southern Sun in Boulder. It is a local brewery with a very casual atmosphere. They have an entire cabinet filled with board games, so after ordering a local brew we pulled out Yahtzee and proceeded to play a full game. Although I was the only one to roll a Yahtzee - on my very first turn - I still came in second. Ironically, our scorekeeper won. I think he may have cheated.

As much fun as the past four weekends have been, I cannot tell a lie, I'm looking forward to doing nothing this weekend except errands and chores. I need a weekend to relax & rejuvenate. I'm hoping this gets accomplished...because next weekend the fun begins again!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Let's keep the good times rolling.

The very next weekend, the one after the Broncos game, I had a couple friends in town for the weekend. It's quite interesting how the four of us are connected. Get a load of this... Jen (the one in white) and I know each other from church; we go way back to childhood, although we never really became friends until we were a little older and went to school together. Kinsey (the one in blue & purple) knows Jen and I from our school years; like middle-school through graduation. Then Jen and Kinsey went on to college at U of I, and became friends and roommates with Jane (the one in light blue). I met Jane, completely independently mind you, working at a summer mission program called Appalachia Service Project. I believe we met the summer before the three became roommates, and ironically, it was Jen who had told Jane about ASP and encouraged her to apply. Jen knew about ASP because we had volunteered for the program in high school through our church youth group. So there you have it, the it's-a-small-world version of how we all met and became friends.

Fast forward to now... Jen and I live in the same city again, Denver, Kinsey lives only a few hours away, and Jane happened to be in town for a job interview. So we decided to make a weekend of her visit and go skiing. It was fun to have a weekend with the girls and catch up on what's going on in everyone's lives. Not to mention it was just a relaxing weekend.

Instead of getting up at the crack of dawn to beat local traffic to the ski resorts, we took our sweet time. Starting with breakfast and coffee at Panera around 8:30, we got on the road to the mountain around 9:30am. Then we still had to get rentals for 2 of them and go to the grocery store for some food for lunch. This is the much more economical way to eat at a ski resort.

I'd estimate we got to the mountain, had our gear on, and were finally in line for the lift around noon. Then we took a whopping 3 runs before we went in for water and lunch. Plus some were having a hard time adjusting to the altitude, and once again, the point of the weekend was to be together not see how many runs we could get in. We only took a few more runs before we decided to call it a day. It was windy, cold, and snowing pretty hard (as it had been all day), and we were a little concerned about the drive back.

Speaking of the drive back, it sucked. Scuze my language. I believe it took a total of 3 hours to make the typically 1.5hr drive. I don't think it was sheer volume causing the slow down because it really didn't seem to be that busy, so I'm blaming the snow, which is probably a pretty good guess if I do say so myself. Good think we were in good company. The conversation and thought-provoking discussion helped to pass the time, and we were in Denver before I knew it.

Since the drive delayed our arrival back to town, we ended up calling it a night and cozied up on the couch for more "girl-talk." I do have to say, I really miss spending quality time with my girlfriends, so that is a goal of mine for this new year. More on that in a future post though...

The next day was just as fun, although entirely different. We woke up without any plan except to get breakfast. We went to a local diner called Dozens, and it was delicious! They seem to focus on local and wholesome food, as much as possible. Mmm, mmm. Afterward we went to Cherry Creek shopping center and wandered the streets and cute shops. I found one shop that I adore! It filled me with tons of inspiration for cute DIY and art projects. I can't wait to start one! Although, I should probably finish the few that I have started around my apartment first.

We all went our separate ways around 2:00, and I headed home to clean up, go through mail, and get ready for the week. Wah, way; I won't bore you with details. Check out the very few pictures we took from the weekend!

{having lunch at Arapahoe Basin}

{the next morning before heading to breakfast}

{having fun with the phone booth outside this adorable English pub}

Thanks for a great weekend girls!

Goooo Broncos!

I don't know how you spent the first day of the new year, but I was at a Bronco's game! It was my first time attending a professional football game (except the time in college when I danced at a Ram's game with the dance team - but then we spent most of the game in the dressing room waiting for our time to go on), and it was a fun experience.

The game started around 2:15, but we got there around noon so we could walk around the tailgating activities and try to get a peak at the field. - Side note: On our way in there were a bunch of people selling jerseys, shirts, beads, and other Broncos paraphernalia. At one point you have to walk under an overpass, and there were all sorts of "Tebowisms." These are just signs people have posted with comments relating to Tim Tebow. My favorite one said, "Dear God, please disregard the first 3 quarters. -Tim" It made me laugh for a good while. But back to my recount of the day - I wasn't sure what to expect when we got to the stadium, but we were able to walk right up to the front row on field level while the players were warming up. There was even one guy from KC immediately below us using the wall for balance while he warmed up. I could have touched his head. It was fun to watch them and see their normal routine for warming up.

We watched for a while and wandered around the field, slowly meandering towards our seats. All the while we were waiting for the Bronco's players to come out to warm up. Eventually they did appear, and we got to see some of them, including some key players, warming up while we were still at field level. That was neat since our seats were far away and we knew this would be our only chance to get a good look from up close.

As the stadium started to fill more and more we decided it was time to go to our seats. We were pretty near the top row, but we were on about the 45yd line. Really, it wasn't too bad a view. Of course you couldn't see much detail, but it was fine for watching the game I thought. The "show" started with the Bronco's cheerleaders doing some sort of "fight song" routine (at least I assume it's the same one they always do, along with a small band). They left and then a lady came out riding a bronco, both horse and rider decked out in orange & blue. That was pretty neat; I wasn't expecting it at all and they were moving fast! Eventually the horse moved to the side and 4 guys on a jump team jumped out of planes aiming to land on the field. They had orange, blue & white parachutes, and as they entered the stadium they positioned themselves so they were falling horizontal to the ground. Of course at this point the parachute wasn't doing much; they fell really fast and swooped around the inside of the stadium looking as though they would land in the crowd. At the last minute they straightened back up, just in time to slow down enough to safely land. It was a rush to watch. Next the teams came out; of course the Broncos had more a display. The woman on the bronco led out a small group of people waving flags, followed by the team. Then they introduced the starters who ran out individually. Lastly they had some people display the Bronco logo on the field, followed by a large group of people who displayed a GIANT American flag. The National Anthem was sung & followed by a fly over. That was also really neat; I love fly overs! They always make me feel especially patriotic for some reason. Plus it's just cool to watch.

The game was not especially exciting. It was a low scoring game (7-3, Broncos lost) and not much excitement; few turn-overs, never a chance to be close or come down to the wire, and not even any especially good plays. But just being there, in that atmosphere, made the game fun. Every time we were on defense the entire stadium started rumbling because everyone stomps their feet to be loud and distract the other team. I thought a few times there was a chance the stadium might collapse. I don't think the risk was every very real, but everything was shaking from the number of people doing this. They call it Thunder Stadium, Broncos Country, USA. I assume this stomping & rumbling is the reason why.

Anyway, it was a fun time. Really cold! I don't think I warmed up for a couple hours after the game. The temperature that day wasn't bad, but our seats were on the west side of the stadium, so we were in the shade the entire time. I thought we were on the opposite side and would be in the sun. Otherwise, I would have brought a coat!

Here are our pictures from the day (or most of them):

{I still think Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium is a better name...}

{These guys are huge! I would not want to mess with them.}

{Prater, I believe is his name, our kicker. Warming up. He made it.}

{Tebow warming up. He's #15 if you're not sure which one I'm talking about.}

{View from our seats. Not bad.}

{One guy from the jump team; I know this isn't an exciting picture.}

{Do you see the lady on the bronco out front?}

We thought they were out of the playoffs since they lost this game. But, surprise, they got the wild card bid and play against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday! Gooo Broncos!

Happy New Year!

Love,
Bailey

(isn't she the cutest!?)

Christmas in Illinois

No white Christmas this year. But fun all the same. It was a nice week home: spending time with family (and those like family), visiting friends, eating delicious food, and enjoying some rare mid-western winter sunshine. What a treat!

{Christmas sweater party}

{Christmas Eve before church}

{Christmas morning}

{later Christmas morning}

{extended family Christmas}

That Just Happened

That's right. I scored a 200 in bowling. After scoring two games in the 80s. And it's legitimate. Not one person bowled for me to help me out.

Let me back up and give a little history of my bowling skills. During college I participated in the Big Brother's Big Sister's Bowl for Kids Sake Challenge. It's a fundraiser event for the organization where each participant collects pledges before bowling. The donor can choose to give a flat amount or a per pin pledge. I tended to get mostly per pin pledges, and maybe that's because people knew just how bad I was at bowling. That remains unknown. Anyway, since it's a fundraiser, the organization realized they would need to set a minimum if they wanted to raise substantial money, so they automatically bump you up to 100 if you score below that. Let me just say I consistently needed the help. I could never score a 100 by my own accord, so I would get bumped up to the minimum in order to make my pledge collections worth anything.

As is evident by my first two games this particular night, I have not improved much. However, something happened and I clearly found my groove (I think it was the Christmas socks; I'll explain in a second). I don't mean to brag, but did you notice I only had one open frame the entire game. And even in that frame I only missed 2 pins! That's pretty outstanding, if I do say so myself, especially when you consider who bowled it! Of course I had to have them print my score so I could remember this bit of history. Because it's sure to never happen again.

So about the socks. Apparently this bowling party was a Christmas sweater party, but someone forgot to tell me that detail. So I show up and am the only one without a sweater. If you know me at all, it is not like me to miss out on an opportunity to dress up or have some fun, so I was a little bummed when I realized this. But then - good news - as I was putting on my bowling shoes I realized I just happened to be wearing gaudy Christmas socks. Lucky me! So naturally, I rolled up my jean bottoms just enough for my Christmas socks to show and for myself to look like Steve Urkel. If you're wondering why the magic didn't kick in until the third game, it's because I didn't roll the pants until part way through the second game. But I think that was definitely the key. Whatever it was, it was fun!

Christmas Greetings

I think I found a new hobby.

Today, as a special treat for the Christmas season, we had a fun activity during our meeting at work. We got to make home-made greeting cards! I loved it!! Truthfully, I'm not all that creative, and I got most of my ideas from "piggy-backing" off someone else. So they were kind of my own creation, but inspired by others. Anyway, check out the ones I made...

The next few are my favorites.

Sadly, I never got around to sending them out, but that just means I'll have a few Christmas cards to get me started next year! Yay.