Ski Vacation Recap

For my birthday Charlie planned a trip to Jay Peak. It was tons of fun. The hotel is brand new and has tons of amenities. 

Comfy beds. 

A fireplace. I love fireplaces. Whenever we were in the room I turned it on. 

Keurig, tiny stove, mini fridge. Tiny stiff makes cooking seem more appealing. 

 The room was great, but the skiing was even better. The first day it was really cold. One chair lift had a -30 degree wind chill warning. We thought they were kidding, they were not. The second day was warmer and it had snowed that night and into the morning so the conditions were great. We skied from 8:30 until 3:30 with a lunch break as our only stopping time. The third day was windy and snowy. It was so windy that three of the chair lifts were closed down. We stayed until lunch and then went home.

Tram stop all the way at the peak. 

View from the top. 

 Aside from 3 and 18, 118 is my third favorite number. Can you guess why? January 18th (1/18) is my birthday. I always look at the number of the chair lift we're on. On Friday, 1/18, my birthday we got on lift 118. I thought it was funny/coincidental.

Besides the skiing and fancy room, the hotel also had an indoor pool/water park. I love water parks so this was a huge selling point for me. There were four slides, a surf area, rock climbing wall, and two hot tubs, one inside and one outside. The best slide was the red one. You stand at the top inside a plastic cage and a voice says "3, 2, 1, launch" and then the floor under you falls out and you fall through the tube. I screamed the entire way. The second time I did it I somehow flipped myself onto my stomach and banged my elbow and hip in the process. I was okay. Once at a water park I got a bloody nose s that was nothing.

A 27 year olds dream!

I tried to take a picture of us on one of the slides. This is the best I got. It was so fun.

 The other great part was that on the way to dinner one night there was a huge fireworks show.

I didn't even tell them it was my birthday!

Skiing, water park slides, a fireplace, yummy food, Keurig machines, and fireworks. This was pretty much the greatest weekend of my life. If you ever get a chance to go to Jay Peak I would recommend it. 

Lauren 

Huge Problems Via Bad Pictures and GIF's

These are listed in no particular order of enormity, except the last, which is the most grave.

1. I tried to knit a sweater and realized when I was starting the fourth of six skeins of yarn that I would not have enough. I realized this in November and put the project aside. I just now remembered and it's a fresh wound all over again. I'd like to make something nice out of this yarn. Maybe I'll just make 10 scarves.

Whatever I make, none of it will be done by the end of the winter. 

2. The kit I have for the cross stitch I've been working on since 2008 (have I mentioned this enough?) did not come with enough of one color of embroidery floss. Luckily you can call the company and request more of the color you're missing. Unfortunately, the people who work at the company have sent me the wrong color. Twice! It's the only color I have left to do so I am essentially at a stand still. I was on such a roll too.

Super peeved. 

3. I've finished two dresses recently. Only problem is it's too cold to wear them.

That's my cold face. 

4. I got this new facial scrub. I love it. I dropped it in the shower the other day and the bottle broke. Now it leaks everywhere. That stuff costs a lot and it's dripping all over the shower.

I'm watching you facial scrub.

5. The tennis bracelet Charlie bought me for Christmas lost a jewel today. Luckily he bought the lifetime guarantee. He knows me well.

6. I am making another dress/shirt and I have deviated so much from the pattern that I am now completely lost. The pattern is 0 help, because of above mentioned deviations. The fabric is a pain to sew too.

When I get confused I just give up. See you in 4 years dress. 

7. I accidentally pulled out my retractable tape measure out too far and it won't wind back up.  Now I'll have to keep it in a crumpled mess.

Crumpled mess, you stink. 

8. I've been watching Gossip Girl on Netfix while I sew. I know it's a dumb show, but I like it. It's mindless, I like the clothes, it doesn't matter if I miss 10 minutes because the sewing machine is loud, and most importantly I love/hate Blake Lively. Also, Charlie hates it so it doesn't matter that I watch it while he's not home. In fact, he prefers that. The problem is that Nexflix only has seasons 1-5 and not the last season.

source.

I can only get the last 5 episode of season 6 on Hulu, not the first 5. Who wants to watch the last five without knowing what's already happened? Hulu.....

source.

Will someone who is tech savvy please help me with this? 

source. 

K Thanks!

Lauren

Photo A Day Recap: Week 3

14: Something Yellow: This little sign hangs on the wall next to my desk. I moved the desk the previous week because it was too cold next to the window. On Monday I felt lonely without my little sign so I moved it too. My friend Lorelei has one too, I made both of them so they make me feel connected to her.

15: An Ordinary Moment: I took two. The first was in the morning before the madness of the day began. I like feeling prepared with everything in order (surprise) before the kids come in and everything gets messy.

The second one is of Penny. She always scopes (sniffs) out the air from the safety of the car before she gets out to go walking or running. Sled dogs hang out here sometimes she I think she's sniffing their smell, making sure they are not around before she feels 100% safe to get out. 

16: Two Things: The two things I ate for lunch. A clementine and some left overs. Yum.

17: Ready: I forgot to take a picture this day. Oops. Luckily my co-workers threw me a surprise party in the library. I was not ready for that. It was also "Patriots Day" at school. Charlie lent me his jersey and I had to Google 83 in case anyone asked me questions I would be ready to pretend I knew what I was talking about.

18: Shadow: Kind of a stretch here. Can you see the shadow from the clouds on the mountains in the distance? This was taken from the top of Jay Peak. It was freezing up there, but very beautiful.

19: Delicious: The hotel we stayed in had a Keurig and hot chocolate cups. Hot chocolate plus a Twix was the perfect after skiing snack.

20: Something You Saw: This is the view from the lift on Sunday. To the left you can see a cloud blowing in. About 3 minutes later the cloud brought tons of snow. Great conditions, except the wind that brought the snow resulted in 3 of the main lifts being closed for the day.

Sorry most of this week involved skiing. More diversity coming soon.

Lauren 

Tova! Tova! Tova!

Animal House reference anyone? After much wanting and research I finally bought the Tova pattern from Wiksten. You should too. I'm only a year or so late to the party. Seems as though everyone has one. And now I know why, they are so easy to make, and comfortable to wear. 

Ready to wear out for a Birthday Dinner. 

The best part about waiting a while to make a pattern everyone is talking about is that you can read their reviews and learn from their mistakes without actually making the mistakes yourself. The only real change I made was to line the placket. That's the part that opens up. Some people said that when the colar is open the wrong side of the fabric shows. It was an easy fix to just cut out four of that pattern piece instead of two and to sew them together so that you can't see the wrong side of the fabric. 

The fabric is swiss dot that my Mom bought for me back when I didn't have a job, so approximately three years ago. I am glad I waited though, as I love this top.

Now, off to ponder other Tova's to sew. If you're wondering my necklace is from Sweetheart Jewelry Box on Etsy. I love it and wear it almost everyday. I'd wear this shirt everyday too if not for fear of being judged and smelly. 

Lauren 

Honeymoon; Super Late Recap

I realized I never wrote about our honeymoon the other day. Since this blog is mostly for my own amusement and to record my thoughts etc. I figured I would post about it. We had approximately four trips planned, all of which fell through. We were going to go away in February of 2012 but Charlie couldn't miss school, then we couldn't really agree on a place to go to begin with. We finally got around to going on a honeymoon on our one year anniversary. After our friends wedding we flew to Portland Oregon. From Portland we went to the coast and drove down Route 101 to San Francisco. This post will be just pictures and captions about that leg of the trip, the second portion of our trip I'll write about in a second post. I could write tons about the trip, but I've decided to keep it mostly pictures, since they speak a thousands words themselves. 

Charlie and I on our anniversary at Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Crazy waves, Cannon Beach Oregon. 

Gorgeous sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

Another gorgeous sunset. 

Hike through the Redwoods. Stunning.

Redwoods. Seriously, they were spectacular. There are not adjectives great enough to describe the experience of seeing the Redwoods. It's something you just have to see for yourself.

My uncle Neal took us on a 20 mile bike ride around Oakland. My butt hurt for 4 days.

Enjoying a cruise around the San Francisco Bay. 

Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge. I forced Charlie to walk part of the way across. 

Nappa Valley. I realized I don't like wine so I took 1 million pictures. 

Curviest street in the world. And such a hike to get to. 

World's most delicious donuts. Bob's Donuts in San Francisco on Polk Street. You should go.

Part two pictures coming soon.

27 Years

Hurray! Today is my birthday. Lots of people I know don't like their birthdays. I have no idea why. Someone once told me that when you turn a new age you get to be every age you've ever been plus the age you are now. How exciting.

I must admit after re-reading my 26 goals for 26 years I realized how many of them fell by the wayside during the year. I also realized how many of them were totally subjective. As someone who writes measurable goals for a living I sure did a shoddy job or writing goals for myself. It also seems daunting to think of 27 new things to focus on this year. If 26 taught me anything it's to be happy with what you've got and where you are, and to just slow down and enjoy it. Did I sound too much like Ferris Bueller there?  (Bueller?...Bueller?.... Frye?)

Anyways, since 27 goals is way too much to think about and to focus on I've decided just to do a few. I wouldn't even call them "goals", more like focus points. I've also decided to focus on ideas and people and not items or things.

• Be active everyday. As I've said before its easier now with a dog. I'd like to do a few races this spring/summer/fall so I want to keep running to stay/get in shape for those upcoming races. My first will be the Muddy Moose in April, a 14 mile trial race. Right up my alley. I also feel like I need to realize that with the exception of having the flu or some other virus/disease, I am active everyday. I'm going to try to focus more on the fact that I am moving in some way, and not stress out if I don't run everyday. 
• Even though I said I wouldn't focus on "things" I'd like to reduce my fabric stash. I've been using what I have and managing just fine since November. I'm only going to buy fabric if it is for a project, not just because it's pretty. When I buy it I will have a project/pattern in mind and will (attempt) to buy all of the supplies at that times. Once it enters the house I will have to use it in 1 month or else I will...I'm not sure. I just want to use it, not hide it. This means you jersey fabric I've had hidden since 2009, I'm coming for you.
• Embrace my time. I worry a lot about "wasting" time. I would like to try to re-define my ideas about this. If I want to spend 30 minutes looking at Pinterest, I will. This isn't "wasted"time, it's time spent doing something I enjoy, no need to worry about it. 
• Along those lines, I'd like to feel more at peace and happy with where I am. As I've mentioned before I worry about our next stop, our next place. As someone with a Type A personality, it's hard for me to "live in the moment." I feel like I've been getting better though. I'd like to embrace more of that attitude. 

source.

The last 26 years have been great, I can't wait to see what 27 has in store. 

Lauren 

P.S. Charlie and I both took the day off from work and are skiing at Jay Peak. Charlie is excited about the skiing, and I can't wait to go to the indoor water park!