Ski, Celebrate, Ski, Celebrate ...

I realize I've been woefully absent recently. I blame that on my general feelings of "what the heck should I blog about these days?!" and the fact that I've been really busy.

What have I been busy doing?...

In early March we spent three days at the Canyons in the Utah. It snowed A TON right before we got there and at the beginning of our trip, so we had AMAZING snow.



We stayed slope-side at the Hyatt Escala (thank you Hyatt points!) and really enjoyed it. Here's the view from our suite.


Then we celebrated St. Patrick's day with a party bus bar crawl with a bunch of USC/Long Beach friends. Ridiculous!

Us:

(Yes, my husband had a beard. Yes, he's shaved now.)

Our crazy crew:


Later in March we celebrated a family friend's wedding in Temecula, CA.


My Dad was a reader at the wedding and did a great job.


The day after the wedding we did a little wine tour around Temecula (South Coast, Thornton, and Callaway) and picked up some yummy white wines.


We finished up March with another ski trip BACK to Utah to celebrate a friend's 30th Birthday.


The snow wasn't as good this time because it was 55 degrees on the slopes (yikes!). But we had a blast anyway.


I started off April with another celebration in San Diego where I got to meet Rachel and her husband for lunch/sightseeing while they were on their Spring Break.


Rachel and I have been blogging, emailing, and gchatting buddies for years, so it was AMAZING to finally meet her in person! She is just as sweet and as cute as she is on her blog. Come back and visit CA soon, Rachel!

So that gets you up to speed. Some more life updates from me will be coming your way soon!

Mammoth Recap and NEW Giveaway!

This past weekend the Mr. and I spent three awesome days skiing/snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain, CA.

We drove from Long Beach to Bishop on Wednesday night after work, and spent the night in a motel there. While in Bishop we picked up some jerky at Mahogany Smoked Meats that Shoshanah recommended. Delish!

Early Thursday morning we drove the rest of the way to Mammoth Lakes and started the day off with a delicious, hearty breakfast and coffee at The Stove.


So good!

The we hit the slopes for three days of skiing and snowboarding! (We had pre-purchased our tickets at Costco which saved us a lot of money!)

Mammoth has just gotten DUMPED with snow this year so were excited to ski and snowboard there.

(yeah, I don't know what he is doing either).

Good thing Mammoth has so much snow because it was HOT. Like in the 50s hot.


We had to ditch our jackets because it was so hot! The Mr. snowboarded in just a long-sleeved shirt.


Because it was so hot, we ended our ski days a little early because the snow would get so slushy by about 2 PM.

But that gave us extra time to visit the Mammoth Brewing Company to do a free tasting and buy a lot of beer.

The beer was amazing! We bought the Floating Rock Hefeweizen, the Golden Trout Pilsner, the Double Nut Brown, and a "growler" of the Bear Ass Belgium.


We stayed at the Westin Monache. It's a really nice condo-style resort hotel. I liked it a lot because we could cook food in our own little kitchen which was cozy and inexpensive. We made spaghetti with meat sauce one night and tacos another night. It's right by the Village Gondola so we could access the slopes easily. So convenient!


This was the view from our room. The sun was warm enough to lay by the pool in a bathing suit and get a tan, but the ground was still covered with snow. Quite the contrast!


We had a lot of fun skiing and snowboarding in Mammoth, but for me, you can't beat skiing in Utah. The snow in Utah is pure perfection and the resorts are wonderful.


Switching gears a bit...

I have a great NEW giveaway going on on my reviews and giveaways blog. All you have to do is read about the new Seattle's Best Coffee Levels and then leave me a comment about which one you think you are and you could win $100 gift card for Amazon.com. Amazing right? So go enter now here!

Mammoth Skiing and Don't Forget...

By the time you read this we'll be well on our way to another ski trip. The final one of the season.

We're driving up to Mammoth Mountain, CA.


I'm really itching to get up there because:
a) I didn't get to ski Mt. Hood. :(
b) I haven't been to Mammoth in almost a decade! And the Mr. has never been.
c) Mammoth Mt. has had an epic amount of snow this year! The base over 16 feet!


Also don't forget that you have a few more days to enter to win a $100 Visa Gift Card from BlogHer on my reviews and giveaways blog! It's so so easy to enter to win. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post about Stouffer's Sautes telling me how you make an ordinary night extraordinary. So go enter now!

Off to Wedding and Ski Weekend! (and a giveway while we're gone)

We're off!

We've packed our Bridesmaid/Groomsmen clothes, we've got the the gift all ready, and we've got our ski/snowboard gear! (That's a lot of luggage)

We're on our way to Oregon to see this wonderful couple get tie the knot!

That's the Mr.'s brother and his soon-to-be bride!

And after the wedding we're hitting the slopes here.

That's Mt. Hood.


By the way check out the Portland weather forecast for our whole trip up there...


Good thing rain on your wedding is good luck. I love the Pacific Northwest weather {heavy sarcasm}.

I'll back with lots of pictures and stories next week!


And while we're gone be sure to check out my Stouffer's Sautes for Two review and enter to win $100 Visa Gift Card from BlogHer on my reviews and giveaways blog! That's my little gift to you all while I'm gone :)

Ski Utah! Trip Recap

There's a reason the Utah license plates say "Greatest Snow on Earth" -- the skiing in Utah is Epic.

I love sking in Tahoe and Colorado but I have to say the combination of great snow, great resorts, easy travel, and generally nice weather make Utah my favorite place to ski.

The Mr., me, and three of his friends spent three wonderful days tearing up the slopes of Utah.

Day One

The first day we went to Park City Mountain Resort. This is a fun, historic resort and we had beautiful weather there.

Mr. and me on the slopes with Park City (the town) below us:


Me and "the boys" at Park City (I was the only girl on the trip, ha!)


After skiing we had Pizza and Beers at Davanza's in Park City. Total dive, but good food and great prices.

Day Two

We spent the second day at The Canyons in Park City. I'd never been to The Canyons but I was BLOWN away. It's an amazing resort. It's huge with a wide variety of terrain and great snow. If you ski one place in Utah, make it The Canyons, seriously.


The Mr. and I skied non-stop from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM and still didn't cover all the terrain. I was so in love with the slopes there I literally could not stop skiing. I'd love to go back to The Canyons for several days.


The Canyons also has fun base area where several gondolas and chairlifts meet up with outdoor dining and music.



At night we back the Sheraton in Downtown Salt Lake where we were staying and then went out to dinner at Chanon Thai Food. We had wanted to go the famous Red Iguana but the lines were too crazy, so we settled for Thai. It was solid Thai Food but the service was so slow, we almost ate our arms.

Day Three

On day three I really wanted to go a fun little resort called Brighton, but the Mr's friends wanted to go to Snow Basin, so we ended up going there. Snow Basin has great intermediate and expert terrain, but unfortunately there was super high winds that day so several gondolas and parts of the mountain were closed. And many of the runs that were open had poor visibility due to the low clouds and snow blowing up from the winds. So I didn't do as much skiing at Snow Basin as I did on the other days.

I did, however, spend a couple hours drinking beers in the luxury lodges with the Mr...


And the crazy boys...


We did dinner and microbrews at the Beer Hive Pub in Downtown Salt Lake. We did some bar hopping but we liked the Beer Hive the best of any place we found. They have a giant beer menu and some fun local brews on tap (note: all local brews were under 4% alcohol due to local Utah liquor laws I guess).

All and all we had an epic ski trip and I cannot wait to ski utah again!

PS- Another one crossed off the list!

Hitting the Slopes!

You're gonna hate me but...

I'm off again! ...

To my favorite place in the world to ski...



Utah!

Here's me in Utah circa 1989...


I only hope I look this cool this weekend!

Talk to you all next week!

2-Mile High Skiing

We had a wonderful weekend in Colorado skiing and snowboarding with friends on the beautiful rocky mountains.

It snowed most of the time we were there, which meant lots of great, fresh snow for skiing! But that also meant that I didn't get a lot of pictures for fear of ruining my camera or freezing my hands! (Note: I have new respect for bloggers who live in snowy weather and manage to take lots of great outdoor snapshots!)

Here we are at Vail!


And this was the view from the condo we stayed at. Sweet!


A few observations about skiing in Colorado and Colorado in general:

• Colorado snow kicks CA snow's butt! Seriously, it's so light, fluffy, and amazing! I still love Tahoe -- but the "Sierra Cement" just can't compare to Colorado powder!
• Skiing at 2-mile elevation is hard! The altitude took breath away on some runs... literally.
• I met more ex-Californians in Colorado than I've met in my life. It seems to be the place to move to if you're sick of expensive real estate and high taxes in CA. So many people moved to Colorado to "start a family" -- it started to give me ideas! Ha!
• If you ski or snowboard, please please buy and wear a helmet. I feel super hard on my head on a black diamond at A-Basin and I am fine besides my neck being a bit sore. Without the helment I would have had concussion or worse.
• I can see why they call Denver, "Men-ver". The guy to girl ratio at the bars was insane.
• I don't particularly like Vail. I can see why my My Dad calls it "Travail". You have to pole or scoot along miles and miles of cat-tracks to get to the run you actually want to ski. It is huge, but the most of the runs seemed to be either be cat-tracks or steep moguls. I like Breckenridge SO much better!

From my last post, it seems a lot of you have skiied or snowboarded in Colorado. What "observations" do you have about it?

Cruising to Colorado!

By the time you read this we'll be on our way to Colorado for three days of skiing and snowboarding with friends at Breckenridge and Vail!



Pray for pow-pow!

Talk to you Monday!

The Tahoe Ski Trip that Finally Happend

Readers may be beginning to notice a pattern in my blogging...

football in fall, vacations in the summer, and skiing in the winter!

The Mr. and I just got back from a long weekend trip to Tahoe. We'd had to cancel our planned Tahoe trip a couple weeks ago due to storms, but last weekend the weather cooperated and we got to spend three amazing days on the slopes!

Day One: Northstar-at-Tahoe

Together at the top...


The Mr's boss called him and wanted him to submit some electronic report. This is him saying, "uhhh, I'm on a black diamond on the backside of Northstar, I can't really get to my computer right now."

Note: I think it's very rude for a boss to call someone when they know he/she is on vacation unless it's a super urgent matter.

Me on "Iron Horse" on the backside of Northstar



Day Two: Alpine Meadows

This is the only picture I have because it was snowing that whole day and I didn't want to wreck my camera.



Day Three: Homewood

How freakin' amazing is this view!?


The Mr. at Homewood. I wish I could build a ski cabin right here!


Me at the top of Homewood


In addition to three wonderful days skiing we had a couple of fun dinners out in the Tahoe area, including a delicious and romantic dinner at Cottonwood in Truckee. If you're ever in North Lake Tahoe you have to check this place out!

What's our next ski adventure? Breckenridge, Colorado in three weeks!

Catching Up: Skiing, Fertility, & Awards

A series of epic storms swept across California last week. They flooded Long Beach and closed mountain roads.

So did we end up taking our ski trip to Tahoe? No.

We decided it was too risky to spend the time and money trying to get to Tahoe only to deal with closed airport, closed roads, and stormy skiing.

But did that keep us off the slopes? Nope!

The siren call of the snow-capped mountains east of LA called our names. So Sunday morning at 3:30 AM we loaded up our Toyota Solara with skis, snowboards, and chains and headed up to Big Bear.

It was a bit of a tense drive up, but in the end it was all worth it!

The sun was shining and the the powder was unreal!


Big Bear was the prettiest I've ever seen it!


The resort was pretty much empty (due to the closed and icy roads)


And we had an amazing time!
(Please excuse my lack of makeup, I just can't be one of "those girls" that gets all glammed up for skiing)


Switching topics...

A few people have asked me how I've been doing since my "Taking Charge of Your Fertility Post" (men, just skip this section).

Welp, I didn't get myself preggo yet. So that's good news!

I've been doing the charting, although I don't think I'm ovulaing yet due to the fact I was on birth control for a while (temperatures don't show a pattern at all yet). I love not being on birth control. I was worried about bad cramps or bad skin from going off it - but so far, so good!


And finally...

A few wonderful bloggers gave me awards! I'm really bad about responding to these or posting about them. I don't know why, but I am really honored to get them!

The Life of An Army Wife , Newlywed Giggles, and Angry Julie all gave me awards! Thanks ladies!

Two of these awards asked for seven random things that you didn't know about me. So here are my seven random things:

1. I love organizing. When I was kid, I’d organize my friends’ closets… for fun. The container store is pretty much my heaven on earth. I heart the show, “Clean House”.
2. I am a giant Microsoft Excel geek. I make fancy Excel work plans at work and for tasks at home (like furnishing our condo or planning our Wedding). My Wedding Planning excel document is legendary. If It can be managed via an excel doc, I’ll make one.
3. The Mr. and I are the world's worst painters. We painted two rooms of our condo and then had to pay someone to fix it. We learned an important lesson about home improvement... hire someone.
4. I love the snooze bar. I will hit the snooze bar 2-3 times a morning. This drives the Mr. crazy!
5. My favorite red wine is Cabernet Sauvignon (although Syrah has been moving up my rankings lately) and my favorite white wine is Sauvignon Blanc (although I love Viogner too)
6. I come from a long line of only-children. My Grandma is an only child, my Dad is an only child, and I am an only child. Sometimes I think I want to have an only child.
7. Your sweet comments about my wedding album and pictures make me so happy! Sometimes I get a serious case of wednvy (wedding envy) when I look at other blogs, but your comments help remind me what a wonderful and blessed wedding I had. Thank you!!!

Want to know more random stuff about me? Check out my 20 questions post!

Ski Bum

Long time readers may have noted that I love skiing more than almost anything in the world.

It may seem odd that a girl who grew up in San Diego would develop a passion for such a winter sport. But thanks to my amazing parents I fell in love with skiing at a young age and never looked back.

How passionate am I about skiing? I almost quit college to work at a ski resort when I was 19. The front license plate of my car has a frame that says "I'd rather be skiing". And I actually did work in the ski industry for a winter between college my real job.

My ski season is supposed to start this Friday in Lake Tahoe. I've got my gear all packed...



But unfortunately a set of giant storms is barrelling down on California all week. Which could prevent our passage into Lake Tahoe on Thursday! NOOOOOO!

Don't get me wrong, I love that we're getting a ton of snow, I just don't want it to ruin my ski weekend!

Last year I only took two ski trips due mainly to lack of time and funds: One to Breckenridge, CO and one to Lake Tahoe, CA. (click the links to read about those trips).


(My Dad and I in Lake Tahoe, 2009)

But this year one of my New Years resolutions this year is to ski more. So the Mr. and I have a set of trips planned...
- January: Lake Tahoe
- February: Breckenridge
- March: Mammoth Lakes
- April: Back to Tahoe?

But if this weekend gets snowed out the whole schedule could shift. Boooo.

Does anyone else love to ski? Snowboard? (Don't worry, the Mr. snowboards so I have learned to love snowboarders.)

Off to Tahoe!

I'm heading out to Tahoe in about 5 hours so I don't have time to do a Travel Tip Thursday -- I promise I'll resume next week!

I'm skiing at Northstar and Alpine Meadows with my Dad for 2.5 days! Just a little Daddy-Daughter Weekend... heheh. And the weather is going to be clear and warm! Spring skiing in January. I love CA!

So looking forward to this...


Have a great weekend everyone!