NYC

A week ago today I flew to NYC for software training.  I have always loved New York so I was extremely excited to get to attend training in the city.  I chose a hotel in the financial district as my training facility was just around the corner.  The first night there I was able to meet Holly, one of my sorority sisters from K-State.  She moved to Manhattan (The Big Apple in NY, not the Little Apple in KS - hehe) a little before Ryan and I moved to Denver.  Here we are at a cute little West Village bar called Wilfie and Nell.  It was so great to see her and catch up!

I stayed out much too late but when in Rome...right?  The next night I went to Rockefeller Center as seeing the tree was number one on my sightseeing list.  The walk from the subway station to the tree was beautiful.  The city is just magical during Christmas time.  Everything it decorated so beautifully and the Christmas spirit is palpable. 

I was lucky enough to stumble upon Magnolia Bakery on my walk so I stopped in and purchased a Red Velvet cupcake that I took with me to enjoy while I was admiring the Rockefeller Center tree. 

I decided then to walk around a bit more and head towards Times Square. 

I ended my evening with dinner at Tony's di Napoli, which was delicious, and then headed back to the financial district.  I stayed out way too late again but I wanted to squeeze every single minute out of my trip!  I did a great job the first two nights and had a fabulous time!  I'll write about my last night in my next post. 

Snowmobiling!

On the Saturday that Luke and Leslie were in town we headed up to Winter Park to go snowmobiling!  We signed up for a 2 hour guided tour which took us up to the Continental Divide.  Leslie and I decided to be passengers, which is probably a good thing because Les has a strong history of breaking bones while in my company. 

Trying on helmets:

Getting our sleds:

We stopped about halfway up to take pictures:

Here we are at the Continental Divide:

We stopped on our way back down to take more pictures.  The train tracks were so pretty.  Apparently there is an old ghost town, called Arrow, somewhere in the area that serviced rail traffic when the trains were still running this route.

On our way out of high country we stopped and had mountain pies at Beaujo's.  When we got back, Leslie and I crashed.

Notice our matching blankies?  I had admired Leslie's so much when I first saw it that she went and picked out fabric for mine and her Momma Sharon and Aunt made it for me last year.  :)  Because I never shared it with Ryan and he was a bit envious, he ended up getting a blankie this time.

Unfortunately Luke and Leslie had to leave early Sunday morning, but we had a wonderful few days and I know I'm so lucky to have such great friends.  I already can't wait until the next visit!

Luke and Leslie

Hello again!  It's been a while!  I have been one busy girl since the last time I posted, which was over a week and a half ago about our second ski day in Keystone.  The Thursday night after that ski day, my best friend since I was 5 years old and her husband (who I've also known for a very long time as we all grew up in the same town) came out to visit.  They came out for a few days last year and we had a great time and I was so excited they were coming out again.  Of course, Leslie brought a giant bag of salt water taffy for us to enjoy.  Ryan also purchased a bag of salt water taffy because he remembered how much we enjoyed it last year when Leslie brought some.  Below, I am acting like I'm chewing on lots of taffy and Leslie actually is chewing on taffy.  Haha.

On Friday, Ryan had to work but Luke, Leslie, and I drove all around the city and beyond to different shops like Boulder Running Company, Sheplers, Sprouts, and the Outlets at Castle Rock.  We also stopped by a site that Luke's company is currently building on.  Ryan told Luke he felt sorry for him spending the day shopping with us girls but I'd say he made out like a bandit.  He found more stuff than Leslie and I did combined!  I think because he had so much luck he and Les should probably always come out to do shopping in Denver.  :)  Here are his boots that he never did take the stickers and tags off of (as you can see) even though he was wearing them around.  Some of the stickers worked themselves off though and I keep finding them in random places in the house...

That night we went to Mickey's for steaks as Leslie and I both LOVE us some medium rare prime rib.  Yum.  Can you tell we were raised in the Midwest?

Ryan and Luke were very impressed with the "personal pitchers" that Mickey's offered.  I'm pretty sure that neither of them actually took the step to pour their beer from the pitcher into a glass.

When we all asked for loaded baked potatoes they didn't mess around.

After dinner we went back to the house and just relaxed with some beer, pool, and movies.  It was so much fun spending time with old friends all day!  I will write about our next day of fun in the next post.

Ski Day 2

Yesterday Ryan and I both took a vacation day so we could go skiing again.  We got up to Keystone fairly late in the day (around noon) but that doesn't mean it was any warmer...I think it was in the teens!  This time I was confident that I would do better than last time but the first run down I wrecked twice right out of the gate.  I felt like I didn't have any control over my skis so we checked my boots and apparently I didn't have them nearly tight enough.  After Ryan fixed them all was much better.  :)  After a couple runs I was getting tired and cold so I headed into the club house at the summit to rest, warm up, and have lunch while Ryan skied a few more challenging runs by himself.  You can tell my nose and cheeks are pretty red from the cold.

Then Ryan came in to eat and get me for more skiing.  Of course he had to help me with my boots as I clearly didn't do a good job with them earlier.

While I'm still incredibly terrible at skiing, I am getting better and enjoying our trips up to the slopes!  And going on a weekday is great because there are far fewer people up there and the drive wasn't bad at all.



Keystone

Last Saturday we headed to Keystone and hit the slopes for the first time this year.  When we left town in the morning it was snowing but by the time we got to the resort it was over.

This was only the second time I had been skiing since we've lived in Denver.  Ryan's been a lot more than that and he is much better than I am as he used to go when he was younger too.  I had been a couple times when I was a kid so I thought it would be just like riding a bike but my outing two years ago proved otherwise.  I was quite atrocious.  Ryan even mentioned he wasn't sure why we bought me a helmet because I didn't go fast enough to hurt myself.  Well, this time I was MUCH better.  That doesn't mean I was good but I was able to make it down several runs with only a few small wipe outs and one yard sale (that's where you lose all of your gear all over the slope).  Here I am before the first run.  I was slightly terrified but still trying to smile.

It was really cold that day!  We took a break to warm up and eat our packed lunch after a couple runs and then headed back out for some more fun.  I had a great time and am so glad I'm getting better!  Hopefully by the end of the season I can do a few more challenging runs with Ryan and wreck less.

We headed back to town fairly early as I had a girls' night with Amy and Charlotte.  We had dinner at my favorite sushi place, Namiko's, and then went to watch Breaking Dawn: Part I.  Dinner was delicious and it was great catching up with the girls.  The movie was great too, if you're into tween movies like the three of us are.  :)

On Sunday, Ryan worked but we still had NFL on all day.  Go Broncos!!!  As usual when we're home and preoccupied, someone massacred a stuffed toy.  We still haven't found one of the ears. 

It was such a cold and snowy day that I was in the mood for some comfort food.  I ended up making meatloaf, mashed potato casserole, and asparagus.  Yummy.  Ryan was happy too because it's his mamma's meatloaf recipe that he loves.

 

It's still cold and snowy today so I made more comfort food:  chicken pot pie. 

With all the snow, comfort food, and decorations it's definitely starting to feel like Christmas!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I forgot to mention in my previous posts that I won a pair of tanzanite earrings in Playa!  They are what Ryan calls "cahardlies" as in "cahardly see them" but I think they're pretty.

Anyway, on to the three day weekend we had at home after returning from Mexico.  On Friday, we decided to put up Christmas decorations on the main floor.  Ryan hung the lights outside while I was still sleeping and then once I was up we started working on the inside.  We poured some eggnog spiked with Spice Box whiskey (delicious combination), turned on the Christmas tunes and got to work.

We bought a ton of new ornaments last year and all of them are shatter resistant.

Apparently this was not one of those shatter resistant ornaments.

 Ryan took a picture of this because he said it was the first time he'd seen me use a broom.  Very funny.

The girls watched all the holiday spirit from a distance.

Later that night I made a Thanksgiving type meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cider brussels sprouts.  Yummy. 

On Saturday we went to the Avs game with Amy and Dion and afterward went to The Breckenridge Brewery.

Then on Sunday I got to go to The Lion King musical at the Buell Theater with some friends and dinner at Mickey's afterwards.  The musical was wonderful.  The costumes were amazing and the singing and music was so fun.  Dinner was very yummy too and I always love trying new places.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving vacation and hope everyone else did as well.