Ski Bummin'

January 4th-6th, Rob and I ventured to the high country with two of our good friends, Steve and Lara, for a fun-filled weekend of skiing, homemade vodka drinking, hot-tubbing, and jam-banding. Our first day on the slopes began in Breckenridge.  In true Steve and Lara fashion, a good ski day means starting the day off right with an ice cold PBR beer on the first lift.  Soooo tasty at 10 in the morning.

We picked the perfect weekend- bluebird days and 30 degree temperatures the whole time we were there (For those of you who are not avid skiers, these are considered good skiing conditions. Bluebird= not a cloud in the sky). We skied for most of the morning until we took a lunch break at the top of peak 9. There, we enjoyed our turkey sandwiches and sipped on beers and whiskey/hot chocolates. Apparently, this establishment is privately owned and therefore, not as expensive as some of the other bars/restaurants on top of the mountain (sorry, can't remember the name and couldn't find a website).

Meckes joined us too!

After a day on the slopes, we headed to our hotel where we bee-lined it to the hot tub to soak our tired bodies and enjoy Steve and Lara's home-made pineapple/raspberry infused vodka drinks. Now, I am not a big vodka drinker but this vodka was AMAZING! What's even better is that apparently, it is a sinch to make! All you need is fresh fruit and vodka, let it soak for several days and voila! Delicious fruity vodka without all the unnecessary hangover sugars. Later that night, we ventured to The Snake for some drinks and live music.

Saturday morning after a breakfast burrito and perhaps the best bloody Mary I have ever experienced (made with home-made garlic,habanero, basil infused vodka. Ugh! Be still my heart!), we ventured out into the cold for day 2 of skiing- this time at Keystone.

After about 5 hours of skiing, we decided to call it a day and headed down to the bar at the base of the mountain for a little après ski action. This was SO entertaining! See the little boy holding the red cup? Any guess as to what song the band was playing? Yep- you guessed it! Toby Keith- Red Solo Cup! This was where the little boy stood the WHOLE song, unmoving. How hilarious and adorable is that?! Their very little own red solo cup holder. Toby would be so proud.

 After a few songs, the band decided enough was enough with the youngsters and requested that "all the college girls come up to the stage".  Ummm...what?! The bar was clearly filled with families and it was 4 in the afternoon- there had to be at least 15 kiddos up there! Much to their dismay, there were zero girls who took advantage of their friendly little gesture.  Can't blame a guy for trying I guess...pervert.

Then came one of the best party tricks I have seen in a long time.  See the tin cup next to the beer bottles, behind the taps in the picture above?  Anytime the bartender received a quarter, he effortlessly tossed it on the green awning and it easily slid into the tin cup.  Naturally, we had to get a little wager going and that's where we got hustled by the bartender...twice, forcing us to stay for another round of brewskis.

No hanky panky in the gondola-- says Rob.

                                                         

Can never get enough of the sunset behind the mountains. SO amazeballs! And- perfect photo opportunity to capture Lara's curly straw while enjoying cocktails in our very own hot tub time machine.

Some day I will own a home in the mountains with a ski chair such as this.

Happy New Year!! Errr...why does my watch say 12:05?!

New Years Eve this year, much to my surprise, was actually A LOT of fun! We rang in the new year at one of the best dive kareoke joints in Denver- El Charito. I must admit, I was a little apprehensive to spend another new years eve in a bar. In past years, this has only led to disappointment as I fight my way to the front to get a drink and strut around in my new dress and cute, very uncomfortable shoes only to realize this night is like any other normal night out on the town. The only difference is now I am $100+ poorer and my unhappy feet are in excruciating pain. By the end, I am walking bare foot in 20 degree weather and resisting the urge to wreak havoc on others taking the one empty cab that happens to come by every 30 minutes.

This year, I wore my cheetah print leggings ($8 impulse buy that I just knew would come in handy) and spent the night singing and dancing with some of my favorite Denverites! Surprisingly, I did not have to fight my way to the bar or even wait very long to get up on stage and sing. In fact, I think I sang the most I have ever sang in one night! We did not even have to punch another person in the face for a cab at the end of the night!

Unfortunately, I do not have any acceptable pictures of me singing from this night. I do; however, have several of my boyfriend Rob, who can never seem to get enough of the limelight. In fact, despite taking over the stage for half night (partly due to others' reluctance in making fools of themselves and also due to the the DJ's affinity for him), he still felt he did not receive sufficient stage time. Nevertheless, Robdawg never ceases to disappoint his audience, usually bringing down the house with a heartfelt Can you feel the Love Tonight? and his ridiculous ability to jam on the air guitar. He is also the one responsible for making the whole bar miss the actual new year. See, the DJ started his own little countdown after Rob finished his vocal performance.. which was a good 3 or 4 minutes after! Ohh the life of a rockstar..

                      Cheers to a new year! Another chance for us to get it right!

Confessions of a Private Blogger...

Finally! A blog I am making public! Little do you know (or anyone for that matter), I am the author of several blogs-- all of which have remained (and will continue to remain) private over the course of several years (off and on since 2009!). My idea of eventually making these blogs public derailed quickly- mainly due to blogging commitment issues and honestly, lacking an overall sense of purpose (rather more of like an e-diary). Also-- they were not the prettiest..meaning the formatting/editing of this one will be a work in progress. (Still not entirely sure what a favicon or a navbar is yet). Each initial post, highlighted "new beginnings" in my life that I was about to experience, promising myself (and my pretend readers) that this new life chapter was going to bring documented "experiences, self-reflections, inspirations, new friends, life lessons, "aha moments", feelings, internal struggles, and philosophical epiphanies". While I did, in fact, come back to these things from time to time, it soon evolved into more of an e-venting kinda blog due to various life events.

Lucky for you (and maybe my pretend readers), the purpose of this blog is not to serve as a medium for venting about various life stressors. Rather, I am going to focus on the art of living. What is living and why do I consider it a form of art? What I mean by living is to soak up life, to enjoy every second, to take advantage of every opportunity, to experience relationships, to be open to people and have an open mind about everything and everyone, to experience love, to learn and grow from life experiences, to create....anything, and most importantly be entirely conscious of it at all time. All too often, I feel like people do not truly live and so life happens to them rather than them creating a life of their own. This is why I consider living a form of art.

With the endless adventures Colorado has to offer, it is easy to do a whole lotta living. Many new adventures and and events are already in store for 2013 and I cannot wait to document each and every one of them! Stay tuned...