estoy aqui sola

I think I’ll be able to look back over the past few years and quickly tell when my craziest periods at work were based on my blogging frequency. I MISS blogging! Like my dear friend Jackie, I’ve gotten out of the habit, although I don’t have a baby to account for my absence like she does…just screaming, whiney, poorly behaved clients...

Anyway, I’m on a plane now and thought maybe I could play a little catch-up.

This week I got a little break from the office to do focus groups for a client, first in New Jersey and then in Phoenix. For NJ, it was a one-day whirlwind with a colleague in tow – no time to explore and barely enough time to sleep. But for Phoenix, I came on my own, which was the first time I’ve traveled for work by myself. And I have to say, it’s pretty awesome.

First, all your expenses are covered. And I could get used to a daily Starbucks and extra coverage on my rental car, you know what I mean? Yeah? Yeah? (God I’m such an adult, gross).

More importantly, you get to skip the idle conversation. Some coworkers are more fun than others, obviously, but my experience in general is that it’s pretty brutal—people are so quirky when they travel and I’m not into indulging their freak flags.

Phoenix was a perfect trip for me to be alone on, because I arrived around 1:30 p.m. and didn’t have to be at focus groups until lunch the next day. I managed to squeeze in 2 hikes – huzzah! Actually that’s not fair, I should say 1 death-hike and 1 slightly-confusing walk around some buttes.

 

buttes = baby mountains

Death Hike

I did some pre-searching on Trip Advisor & Yelp and decided to try out Camelback Mountain, which was one of 3 main local hiking spots and sounded pretty challenging in the reviews. Note that I actually sort of ignored the reviews though. I scanned them for the lay of the land and got the “vibe” that it would be a good workout with good views, but I totally omitted key phrases such as “you will need to be hands free for the rock scrambles” “trails are very poorly marked” “I got lost” and “extremely steep” – eh, who needs direct quotes anyway?

The trail started off clearly marked with nice wooden stairs staked into the trail – steep, but nothing to write home about. Then slowly but surely, the path degraded until it was just a pile of giant rocks. The incline was so sharp in some spots that they installed metal railings for you to hoist yourself up with—naturally that’s where I dropped my bottle of Gatorade, about 1/3 of the way through the ascent, which fell so far and so hard that it busted open and gave the people down below a lemon-lime splattering—“Greetings from Chicago, everyone!”

 if you look hard enough, you can see hope at the top (in the form of people)

Some girl told me that it was pretty easy after that, which was a bold-faced lie. To be honest, it wasn’t the steepness that threw me as much as the utter and total disregard for trail markers. You generally knew to keep going up obviously, but as for any left or right guidance, well, that was at your discretion. And for someone who wasn’t blessed with a mental compass, I would categorize my trek to the top as “willy nilly.” A few times I panicked that I had taken some crazy divergent path, so I stopped until I could see or hear someone nearby. At another point, I dropped my ID without realizing it (which incidentally I did the second day too WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME) and a few minutes later someone would start shouting “Laura! Laura!” And, as you know, I had run out of my hydration source at the beginning so let’s just so I wasn’t the most well-equipped hiker in the whole place, okay?

a desert Christmas

But the net net is, I made it to the top and managed to get all the way back down without breaking my neck, spraining my ankles (although I rolled them about 10 times), or falling into a cactus. Which yes, I almost did twice. Whatevs. Later when I was looking up some place to go the next morning, I noticed the parks & rec dept gave them all ratings like ski slopes and that Camelback was a black diamond. Whoops. I guess what you don’t know won’t hurt you though, because I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone if I’d seen that before, but overall it was totally do-able and was the perfect mixture of challenging, scary, relaxing, and beautiful.

 

see monkey arms come in handy when you're alone!

Also, as a sidenote, Arizona seems to be pretty amazing in terms of outdoor goodness. I absolutely loved the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and now Phoenix too seems to have a lot to offer. Not to mention that it was 80 degrees during the day and 50 at night—that’s winter weather I can get behind!

it's snow time

This winter's gonna be a weird one, because we're coming off of a super-strangely-warm winter last year, so no one really knows what to expect. Even though we're looking at a warm-ish turkey day, we did get a little taste of this last week! Very apropos after a frenzied few weeks in Obama's hometown!

December will be telling for what the next 5 months have in store weather-wise...until then, we'll be holding our breath (while still riding bikes)...

live from San Fran

We're finishing up an awesome weekend in San Francisco - we came out to celebrate one of Brian's friends getting married and managed to get some time in the city and also up in San Rafael, which is north across the Golden Gate Bridge. Incredible weather (80 degrees in November!), lots of exploration outside, and delicious local food on top. Since this is our third time here and my fourth, I didn't have very high expectations in terms of seeing something new, but the city really surprised me! Golden Gate Park is incredible, the ethnic & seafood options are everywhere, the terrain is so fun to drive (this wasn't new to me but still), the scenery is just beautiful, and there are so many hiking and biking paths every time you turn around...only wish we'd had time to rent bikes for a day! If I didn't already have a full list of cities that I fantasize about living in, this one would definitely be on the list now. #californiadreaming

boondoggle

At my job, you basically fall into one of three categories: planning, account, or creative. I'm a planner. If you're an account person or a creative, you typically get to attend video/photo shoots, cool client events, etc. Planners don't get to do anything super fun like that because we fall in this weird no-man's-land where we don't really need exposure to the client and we can't really lend any assistance on set (I know, I'm really selling what I do). SO, you can imagine my surprise when I found out that all the important creatives/account leads couldn't attend the ESPYs, and that I would get to go instead! BOONDOGGLE!

I didn't even know what the ESPYs were before my current job, so no worries if you're not up on the sports lingo :) (They're an awards show in L.A. for sports peeps, sponsored by ESPN). Because my client was also a sponsor, they gave our agency two tickets to attend, and the invite trickled down to me! (Cue disappointment on the client's face, ha!). I'd never been to L.A. before, and it seemed like going for an awards show on my company's tab was pretty much the perfect way to do it.

The trip was a whirlwind (24 hrs there and back), but filled with a bunch of highlights, surprisingly, none of which were from the actual show! The show itself was so long, relatively boring during the commercial breaks, and they didn't serve alcohol. WHAT KIND OF PLACE IS THIS.

Shaun White & Olivia Munn say "pretty great seats, huh?" 

(despite that dude's head on the left)

I will say, it was cool seeing all the celebrities present awards (Zooey Deschanel, Jessica Biel, Tim Tebow, Peyton Manning), and they aired a ton of feel-good stories during the show that made me have a couple of sports cries. I also got a lot of good QT with our clients, which is unusual for planners as I mentioned. But okay, to the really good stuff...

First class, baby

If you can believe it, I accidentally ended up in first class when my ticket was booked. Since I'd never ridden up there with the high rollers and was on a four-hour flight, I was nothing short of CRAZY EXCITED! I got real food. And free drinks. And a pillow. And a ton of leg room I didn't need. It was amazing!

this is the real deal

The Grand Canyon

I haven't set eyes on the G.C. since we stopped there on our honeymoon, and I definitely didn't think I'd ever see a view like this! Is this not the most unbelievable vantage point?!

I almost couldn't breathe! I thought it was incredible.

The best part though, was when I realized we were flying over the exact location where we'd taken our 9-mile hike almost exactly two years earlier. 

we hiked from the top of the rim all the way to the point overlooking the water 

(actually I stopped short but B did the whole thing)

Red Carpet

So the funny thing about having a ticket to the red carpet is that you actually get a ticket to the non-celebrity red carpet that runs riiiiiiiight next to the celebrity red carpet. God forbid we share the same pathway, right? My primary celeb sighting during our carpet foray was Eli Manning, not bad! Everyone else looked like Somebody I Should Know But Couldn't Quite Place / Maybe Never Knew to Begin With. 

 sunny day in L.A.! loved it!

Lauryn Hill

I had pretty high hopes for the after party, which we also had tickets for and thus I assumed would be amaze-balls. It didn't disappoint in terms of fanfare (pretty much like a gigantic wedding on crack) but I got zero opportunities to de-flower Tim Tebow, so overall it was a fail. HOWEVER, there was one redeeming moment of the night, which is when Lauryn Hill unexpectedly performed. The Fugees narrated my precarious 6th/7th grade years when I migrated from being an awkward loser to an awkward loser with friends so I was super excited to re-live that! But no really, apparently she has been sort of crazy in her recent years and doesn't show up for concerts and stuff so I felt lucky to see her perform, especially in such an intimate setting. 

She was awesome! She sang a lot of crowd favs with a twist and was pretty much a freestyling badass. Aside from her being all crazy and whatnot, I wanted to be her.

Overall, the whirlwind trip was a perfect taste of L.A. for me--getting our hair done, first class treatment, sweet hotel, and an exciting night! Not a bad way to do L.A. in a day!

it's that time again...

...it's slow cooker season!

I had the most Sunday of all Sundays this weekend, because it was filled with all the required activities:
1. Church
2. Gym
3. Laundry (sorry, no Tan, jersey shore fans)
4. Football
5. SLOW COOKER!

I fell in love with our slow cooker last year and have been waiting anxiously to bust it out again, but it hadn't been appropriately chilly until now! One vat of amazing chili later, we officially stepped into fall. Which means summer is over, boo, but fall has found a soft spot in me that likes orange trees and boots and pumpkin spice lattes and crisp air and epic Sundays like this one juuuuuuust enough to look past the all lack of warmth, lack of light, etc.

So yay for chili, I will have a thousand more bowls of you before this is all done!

tales from the train II

Recently, I was standing in the aisle holding on to the back of someone's seat (common fare for rush hour). We were both facing the same direction, so I was essentially standing over his shoulder. When you're jammed all up in someone's business though, after a while there's really nowhere to look except at the person's hair, lap, book, phone, whatever. They can't see you so it doesn't really matter, and sometimes it makes your ride a lot more interesting.

Just to set the stage for you: this guy was probably 26, had a bowl cut, wore round glasses with slightly tinted frames, a plaid short-sleeved shirt, khaki shorts, socks/tennis shoes, and looks like he played one too many games of Halo when maybe he should've been at the gym.

It's 8:30 a.m. He pulls out his phone, scrolls through his texts, puts it back in his pocket. The second time this happens, I decide something must be important so I should probably watch to be sure.

Through a series of backstrokes and re-writes that go on for at least five minutes, he commits to send "Claire":

So I realized that maybe you'd never received a flirty pic before. I just got a new lamp and thought I'd show you.

Then, in the creepiest of all creepy things, he scrolls back through his phone (to where I see that he has sent the last three texts to Claire from the night before with no response), puts it back in his pocket, folds his arms, closes his eyes, and smiles the most lascivious tight-lipped smirk I've ever seen.

He has no idea that Claire's never gonna text him again.

tales from the train

Riding on public transportation, like anything else, has its perks and its drawbacks.

Drawbacks are the usual suspects: sweating before you get to work, alternatively waiting in the freezing cold, extremely close contact with strangers, getting stuck on the tracks when you really have to pee, and witnessing all sorts of crazy.

Perks include general reliability, multitasking, not driving drunk, no looking for parking, no concerns for rush hour, and witnessing all sorts of crazy.

I'm going to try to periodically post about some of my train encounters because sometimes you can't keep all this weirdness to yourself. I hope none of my posts ever start with anything like, "So when I got on the train, I had an iPhone..."

Let's start this series sweet and simple. Today, on the way to and from work, two guys no ehem gentlemen gave me their seats. The first got up when it was disgustingly crowded and opted to brave arm-rubbing with a bunch of very sweaty people. The second was walking toward a seat and then I turned around, saw it, and he forfeited to me. Not a huge deal except that 1) I expected him to sit because he was closer, train rules! and 2) he was reading a book, which is really annoying to do while you're standing up and trying to keep your balance...which he then did all the way to his stop.

Maybe it's sort of sad to think about how rarely this happens (or how quickly I accept), but that slice of chivalry allowed me to read an extra 40 pages in my book while commuting today. Random acts of kindness, people. They keep the world turning!

night pigs

Brian had one--count it, one--free weekend this summer, and as soon as I realized that, I slotted it for camping in Wisconsin. We went once last summer, and wanted to make a few key improvements this time around. 1) New equipment. See reference in an earlier post about drunkenly buying a tent... 2) Friends (Mark & Kim)! The more the merrier when you're killing time in the middle of nowhere.

quiet loop is the bomb

such a hot weekend, and I don't mean sexy

hammock = bliss

The weather was hot by Midwestern standards during the day (insert our friends, taking a nap in the car with the AC on...), but by nightfall it dropped a good 20 degrees and we slept in the high 60s.

Speaking of night...we enjoyed some amazing grilled food both evenings and then tied our garbage up onto a tree about 3 feet off the ground since there was no place close by to dump our trash.

Night 1: about 30 minutes after we got into our tent, Brian started making really soft snorting noises and then squeezing my hand, which clearly freaked me out because what sort of weirdo does that? When I hit him to STOP IT, I realized that not only was Brian not making that noise, but whatever was making it had surrounded our tent with a little rodent army. Snort...shuffle...snort...shuffle. We had a rain fly covering our tent so we had a really a limited view...meaning I couldn't exactly sketch a portrait of the invaders, BUT since they didn't do attack our trash I was sure we weren't dealing with raccoons...we were surrounded by night pigs.

And in case you're wondering, the fear of attack from mythical monsters is pretty much the best way to keep yourself COMPLETELY AWAKE in the wildnerness.

Night 2: The night pigs returned on schedule, just after we had quietly settled into our pine-needle-cushioned bed. After a quick game of "you do it - no you do it," Brian (fully armed but not at all dangerous) resorted to clanking a flashlight against a bat. Yes a bat like a wooden bat. (I've stopped asking questions.)

The night pigs were deterred for about a minute, juuuuust long enough to size up our trash bags and with a couple good swipes BAM that stinky piñata was all theirs! I wasn't as bothered by the mass destruction as I was by the fact that approximately every hour after that, a new crop of night pigs surrounded our tent, proceeded to the smorgasbord, snorted, feasted, and left. During which we woke up, Brian futilely tapped away at his flashlight-bat beatbox, and then dropped back to the ground in defeat.

Rinse. Repeat. Wake to a hot mess of disgustingness in your campsite.

Night pigs - 2 : Campers - 0

Aside from the invaders though, the weekend was exactly what it was intended to be. I had taken off of work Friday, so by the time Sunday rolled around, I was sufficiently decompressed. Maybe a little too decompressed, seeing as how the thought of leaving the hammock made me want to "cry like a titty baby," in the words of my eloquent mother. Loitering was the name of my game, so after Mark & Kim left, we lazed around the campsite, took the world's most leisurely hike, and then stopped three times on the way home. Perfecto!

a little morning game of beer die

 NBD, just carving her name into the table after sinking twice 

(from here on out, the game turned into an epic midday battle) 

this is what happens when you let the man determine the quantity of the food

making Kimmy WORK for it!

our Sunday hike, beautiful!

cats have birthdays too

And this one just turned 15!

 

It's hard for me to think about her age because I know cats can't live forever, but to maintain sanity I keep telling myself she's going to live forever!!!! She is my most precious companion, and I'm so happy she's not showing her age yet. 

I have loved Powder ever since I adopted her in 2005 (she was 8). She loved me as soon as she realized I was responsible for feeding her. But she has rarely given anyone else the time of day, thus earning her a reputation as "white Satan" in Memphis and again in Austin. However...since living in Chicago, she's become known for bigger and better things. Now sometimes those things are her lady balls*. But other times, it's that she's an elusive beauty. Or that if you just try hard enough...you too can pet her. 

Even Brian has come around to her over the years. Their relationship began with an awful lot of hissing and ignoring, but now I'm positive he's the preferred "parent." He caters to her in so many ways that I don't (I saw him put ice in her water bowl recently, what?!) and even though he wouldn't admit it, I think he would miss this little shed-ball if anything happened to her. He's even pushed to get a kitten so she'd have a friend, but in the interest of all parties staying alive, we're gonna hold out on that :)

Powder if you could do anything but sleep and poop on the rug read this, I would tell you we looooooove you - and your lady balls! Happy birthday!

*Her lady balls are really her stomach pouch, sometimes referred to as her foopah, belly, tummy sack, etc. It sort of looks like a Biggest Loser winner who now has to deal with the ramifications of having a giant pile of extra skin. For some reason, when her belly hangs down, it hangs in two parts. And when she walks away from you, they most closely resemble lady balls. Deal.

in the heat of summer

It seems like a good time to plant flowers during the apex of a heat wave, right? This way they have the least chance of survival, so I can't possibly be blamed for their failure!

giving petunias a whirl, although the name doesn't sound hearty enough for the neglect they've got coming their way

hellooooo monday

 

 

what greets me every morning when I get off the train to work:

not a bad way to start the day, eh?

it's a chi kind of summer

Despite the ridiculous number of evenings I've spent eating Triscuits for dinner at the office, there has been so much to love already about this summer!

Arlington Racetrack My friends and I are becoming regulars at the local horsetrack. What a weird thing to say. Anyway, I was on an amazing winning streak based off of some pretty basic betting tenets (cool name? check.) but this last time I finally entered the red so I may have to learn how to dissect the super-intense programs they give you to make some educated decisions. ORRRRRR start choosing horses by the jockey's name instead.

With Kim and the other Laura, 

who is the main reason my friends here call me LB :) 

Baseball games For someone who doesn't know shit about the Cubs, I'm  rather enjoying myself these days! We have season tickets through work and everyone gets to participate in a lottery to select 1 game, and fortunately I got the Memorial Day game. Brian and I took Mark & Kim, which was super fun as usual, and during the Star Spangled Banner they released a bald eagle during the crescendo of the song so it was pretty much the most American place to be on earth. I also got to see them play the Red Sox this past weekend with some work friends (poaching on someone else's tickets, yes please). And last but not least, DJ & Sally were in town a few weeks ago for her work, so while these other jokers were working, DJ and I flew solo to a White Sox game on the other side of town. Pretty nice to sit in a modern stadium with instant replay screens, but I definitely prefer the old-school, ivy-fenced Wrigley.

 

work friends at Wrigley!

south side for the White Sox

Concerts When Lundy was in town for work (I'm seeing a trend and I like it!), our friend Chrissy invited us to come see Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley play at Wrigley Field...for free. I knew zero songs but it was pretty amazing to see a show at such an iconic venue. Plus the country fans were totally different from Texas-style rednecks...as Lundy put it..."these people are all normal."

In the spirit of keeping it real (i.e. I had no control over timing), Brian and I had tickets to see Radiohead the next night. Talk about shifting gears. The venue was an hour away and one of our friends conjured up a little ride for us.

This further proved the old adage: 

"A limo with a stripper pole is where it's at." 

Radiohead was great in terms of delivering a low-key, music appreciation hour, but I was disappointed in how much new stuff was played, seeing as how I stopped actively listening around 2001. They'll be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of show for me I think. Until I'm jonesing for my next stripper limo, I guess.

Up next on the immediate horizon - CAMPING! I can't wait. My sobriety was in question when I realized a massive REI sale was minutes away from ending on Memorial Day and went ahead and ordered a several-hundred-dollar tent...so I'm feeling pretty good about that purchase. Unfortunately the only campsite available was in the Quiet Loop, which is not my specialty, but I'm pumped to detach from this crazy city life and take a deep breath...only a few weeks to go!

2 years!

Brian got back just in time to celebrate our two-year anniversary! We treated ourselves to dinner at a fondue restaurant called Geja's, which is where we went for dinner after we got engaged. Except the first time around, I was in too much shock to do anything but drink. THIS time, I made up for it by eating everything they put in front of me - hooray! It was a great way to say "WHAT UP 2 YEARS!" because 1) the menu is based around melted cheese and sauces and chocolate and I love all those things dearly, and 2) it was our first time to sit across the table and have a real live face-to-face conversation in over a month. We tend to not eat out very much either, so it was awesome to have a long, lazy dinner with a nice bottle of wine in a cozy booth.

3 years ago, after our engagement...

...to now!

So far we're adhering to some version of anniversary traditions, so last year it was paper and this year was cotton. I scored a new pair of awesome sheets, which measures pretty high in my book since I'm obsessed with having the softest sheets alive, and Brian got two new shirts for two things that I'm usually not jonesing to do but decided to make happen this weekend: go fishing and play in a poker tournament. I had the day off on Friday so we hit the local harbor, which is less than two miles from our house...unexplored benefit to living in a lake city! There was a whole little fishing community down there too...I don't think we quite fit in seeing as how everyone sat on buckets and caught multiple fish, while we sat on rocks, drank beer, and got approximately 4 bites, but whatever. I have to say, I would go back! With my bucket, obviously.

cute shirt, right?

great view of the city!

Then for poker, we took off Sunday and headed for the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana for a tournament! Ah! We've been to three or four casinos together, and I always stick to craps while he plays poker. He pretty much loves poker (plays free games on his phone all the time, watches it on tv, etc.) but I've always been way too intimidated to sit down at a table of strangers and pretend like I know what I'm doing. We spent some time "prepping" by playing online beforehand to make sure I had a general grasp of what to do so I hopefully wouldn't throw up on myself at the table. (Set the bar low, people).

So come Sunday, we're on our way to the casino and I call to make sure we can secure a spot, and...drumroll...I had gotten the time wrong and we'd missed the tournament. WAH WAH. Naturally, I was pretty pissed at myself but after calling a bunch of other casinos and considering driving to Milwaukee to go to one (close to 2 hours away), we "folded". Ha...ha. We came home and played some more poker online instead because we're super cool. Eventually we rode our bikes to the beach and spent the afternoon there, which was pretty much my fantasy day. I know we'll make it to another tournament now that I've gone through intense DesGranges training, so I'll post back to report any major winnings.

Happy two years!

stay-at-home wife

Ah, to be in a long distance relationship...I almost forgot what it was like! I have to say, I don't know how we did it for so long. Brian just finished his annual month-long pilgrimage in Miami, and I was super ready for him to come home! I tried to really relish a few things in his absence, including getting more sleep, having the car at my disposal (since normally we share), and working as much as I need to (without being tempted to throw in the towel to go hang out with him). As you can see, the list is short and not too distinguished. The truth is, he's a great husband and my life never feels restrained with him in it, so it doesn't really feel "free-er" when he's gone. The good thing is, he had a complete blast in Miami. Audiences loved the show he was a part of and he got to go to the beach, play poker, go fishing, rent a motorcycle and drive down the keys (JEALOUS) and see lots of cool shows/bands/etc. All while getting paid. It's a pretty good gig :)

Despite a few moments when I thought this long-distance thing was not my cup of tea anymore, I've had some really fun things interspersed to keep me distracted! My big excursion was to Austin for Rachel & Justin's wedding...such a sweet event! They wrote their own vows (including vows to his daughter) and I basically cried through the whole ceremony, awesome. Let's also note that Rachel looked amazing as well and they danced all night - very picturesque.

Sadly the weekend was really short, but I got to see everyone who was in town and squeezed in a lot of QT with the girls during the 48 hours I was there. The weather was perfectamundo and made me miss Tejas hard. Every meal I had was outdoors except for the actual wedding dinner (but the apps were outdoors!) which is pretty amazing.

loved enjoying the warm breeze on the porch 

with Megan in my old 'hood (on my old bench!)

Sno Beach with Amy & Matt...So. Delicious.

I have to say, I'm just so torn every time I go back. There's just this feeling I get when I'm there...and I've overanalyzed the crap out of it to no avail...but I think because I grew up there when I was little and now I associate the city strongly with my dad, it just feels so right. Then again, every time I visit it feels tinier. Chicago is SO BIG, and to a fault at times, but there's an incredible energy that comes with that. There are so many cool things that go on, at all times. Plus it's strange to run into people you know. I don't know, I just really like the hustle and bustle and am not sure how it would feel to go back to feeling like you know everyone. The cities are so different and they're impossible to compare! But in a few months we'll re-sign our lease here, so I guess no formal comparison is needed just yet :)

late night with the ladies at Sidebar - hugs!

the joy of skiing 3

Tahoe
For our third skiing trip, we used a timeshare that Brian's parents have—one of those where you have a certain amount of credit and can apply it to any of the places they have. We've never been able to use it so we didn't know what to expect, but it was a fantastic experience! Our place was right next to a lift, it was exactly as advertised (no surprises), and the staff helped us get adjoining rooms so our whole crew could be together. We planned the trip with our friends Jess & Ryan (from our wedding), and then Eric & Chrissy (also from our wedding) decided to squeeze in a spring skiing trip and jumped on our bandwagon too! Again, such a great group. Chrissy is probably the only person I would allow to snuggle in bed with me and Brian and then make me hold hands with her...she's special :) And when I discovered that our 2 bedrooms were divided by an oversized jacuzzi with "doors" as walls...I knew Chrissy would violate me while I was showering...which she did.

the famous jacuzzi (with Jess & Ryan in the background)

lunch in town

 taking a break at Sierra - such intense skiing (for me) there!

We had some crazy skiing there! On our first day at Heavenly, high winds shut down a ton of lifts, so we were stuck with about 5 short runs and a terrain park all day. Which means I learned how to go on baby jumps :) I had SO much fun learning to catch air, although I can't imagine I'd get too crazy doing this in "everyday" skiing. On our second day, we drove to another mountain nearby called Sierra and spent the day there. The blues there were basically blue-blacks, and then I went ahead and accidentally skiied a black (thinking it was a green...ah, faded signs...) so I guess I can check that off the list. Then on our third day, I had my most favorite day of skiing ever! Jess, Chrissy, & I skiied together while the guys went off and did crazy shit. We got a huge storm so the first part of the day was freezing but so snowy! It was like skiing on marshmallows! And there were also a lot of lumps so I did get to practice my new attempts at taking little jumps (such a joke, really). Then in the middle of the day the storm passed and we got blue skies, fresh powder, and quiet long runs. So so beautiful. And then squeezing in some great conversation on the lifts was awesome too. We finished the day back at the terrain park! I think the whole trip really helped me really push myself to improve, and Brian learned that I can improve on my own without his constant encouragement :)

After such a fun season and so much time on the mountain, I'm sad that we have to wait until next season to go back. I love that so many of our good friends are fun to ski with, and I know there are more of you out there! Let's go!

a break from the storm back at Heavenly

an amazing view of Nevada!