blast from the past: ski passes

When people ask me how long I've been skiing I tell them I started on the driveway not long after I learned to walk. It sounds like a tall tale, but it's not far from the truth. I really did learn to ski on the driveway, followed by years of complimentary ski passes and  ski school lessons thanks to my Dad working for the ski area (Breckenridge, to be exact). 


On their recent trip to the Bay Area, Dad brought along a treasure to share with B - years and years of our ski passes! He's saved every single one from when we were kids and he lived in Colorado. It is always a hilarious and heart warming experience to flip through them. As a kid there were many Saturday mornings I wanted to sit in my pj's and watch cartoons. I know I'm insanely lucky to have been on the ski slopes instead and looking at all the passes is a good reminder of just that.


I am now the proud keeper of all the passes. I want to do something with them - frame, collage - I'm just not quite sure what (suggestions welcomed!) . In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my favorites. 

yours truly 

{age 5}

 Apparently my first official ski pass was at age 5. At this age I was definitely skiing the bunny hill or easy greens with my parents close behind. I wish I could still have this picture as a ski pass photo! 

{age 8}

At this age I was holding my own on skis, the confidant smile says it all. If I wasn't skiing with my parents, dww (my brother) or these girls, I was cruising through the enchanted forest with ski school. Speaking of the smile, thank goodness for braces in my later years! 

{age 10}

Hello permed hair and waterfall bangs, glad you could make it to the mountain! In case no one can see the early 90s look when I'm wearing a ski hat, surely my neon ski jacket will let them know what's up. At this age the benefits to all those ski school lessons were paying off. I could ski almost anything, but could not keep up with my brother (still can't!). 

brother

{age 6}

i love just about everything about this photo - the trucker hat and poofy ski jacket that make him look like a 6 year old and let's not forget the 'signature'. this was his first official ski pass.

{age 11}

I love: the hair (i'm sure a ski hat was just removed...), the devilish smile and the fact that I know he's wearing a one piece ski suit! At this age there is no doubt he was flying down the mountain (regardless of the run, he went straight down). To this day he still flies down the mountain, but with much more grace. And to his credit, he always waited for me...at the bottom.

dad 

{age 28}

This is the first ski pass of the bunch from when he moved to Colorado. LOVE the volume in his hair (clearly that's where I get mine) and the very 70s looking going on here. Please note his signature; he's always had amazing handwriting! 

{age 37}

I wonder if Dad and DWW coordinated their trucker hats for the '86 ski pass photos? 

Regardless, I love it. As far as my Dad's ski ability,  he was an excellent skier and teacher and always carried Jolly Ranchers in his ski jacket! 

Hope this brings a little humor into your day!

Grilled

Over the weekend we were graced with gorgeous weather and the company of my dad and step mom. We had a fun weekend and really enjoyed having them in town!

Since it was the first time they met B, my dad mentioned more than once he had some questions for B. While he may look like a crabby guy, I knew he was mostly joking and wouldn't really grill him.

I was right, no hard hitting questions. The only heat B really received was for his lack of culinary skills. I love to cook so most of the time I don't mind making dinner. Clearly the 'rents picked up on something. They asked if we'd thought about getting a grill. 

When we moved into our apartment last summer I really wanted to get a grill. Although we're in an apartment, we do have a small back porch, (emphasis on the small). With bigger items like a couch, area rugs and more, a grill fell to the bottom of our list. 

 
While driving around Saturday they suggested we swing by Loews. Next thing you know we're all looking at grills. There are a lot of awesome affordable grills out there, but given our small space it was a little tricky. We also didn't want to get a petite grill, because sooner than later we'd like to get a house with a yard and wanted a decent size grill we can have for a few years.


At our second Loews stop we found the perfect grill - the Master Forge small space gas grill!

 That's right, it was practically made just for our small patio. I love that it looks like a beefy grill but the sides can fold down to look like a small fry, if necessary. We were fortunate to receive this grill as an early birthday present (our birthdays are in May). We also got a grilling pan for veggies!

 Look at that: he's grilling, sipping a beer, smiling...life is good!

Bay Area Welcome Bag

Today my dad and step mom arrive to the Bay Area for a long weekend. We are happy to have them visit! You might be thinking, hmm wasn't your mom just there? Yep, welcome to parent weekend number two (this weekend will also be the first time they'll meet B...dun, dun, dunnnn). We love having visitors, not only because it makes us feel popular, but we enjoy playing tour guides around town. 

While in town, they will be staying at a hotel near by. While I'd love to have them stay with us at our huge house one bedroom apartment, I think we'll all be more comfortable. It's always nice to have a little something extra at your hotel, so I put together a very Bay Area welcome bag for them. All of the items come from California, with a large majority coming from Berkeley! 

Included in the bag: 

Bison IPA (Berkeley and because its a bison, which my dad will totally appreciate - go buffs!) 

apples (wherever apples are grown in CA) 

Blue Diamond almonds (Sactown) 

ScharffenBerger chocolate (Berkeley) 

peanut butter cookie mini Luna bars (Berkeley)  
bottled water 

I put all the items in an old Anthropologie bag and tied it up with a golden gate greeting (as seen in top photo). Here's an up-close of the greeting card. Bridge photo taken by B, aka Brian Adams  as my dad says (in reference to Ansel Adams).

celebrating candy

over the weekend my mom, aka candy, came for a visit. her visit coincided with her birthday, so naturally we celebrated! we had a great weekend, but the best part was having a party for her on saturday. here are a few photos from the party... 

{birthday cake by rachel - birthday card from yours truly (made with cricut simply sweet cartridge) - mom and two of her best friends from college, those ladies still know how to party - a birthday crown fit for a duchess - homemade wine glass  tags - pre-birthday happy hour at Dave's bar }

Here's to many more years of celebrations! Thanks for spending your special day here in the bay ;) 

I am thankful for family & friends.

 Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.  ~ Marcel Proust

i am thankful for my loving family. 

i am thankful for growing up in a house where i had to do chores, didn't have sugar cereal, was put on skis as soon as i could walk and always had at least one pet in our family. 

i am thankful to have inherited nice handwriting, thick hair, sense of humor, positive outlook on life and a strong work ethic. 

i am thankful to have an older brother who protected me from intimidated mean boys on the playground at south lakewood elem, would rollerblade to c+c music factory with me, and is now a fabulous professional (and my personal) mechanic. 

i am thankful, and proud, to be the third generation of my family to graduate from the University of Colorado. we are a family of buffaloes (fans, that is). 

i am thankful for so many amazing friendships. 

i am thankful for the inspiration, humor, encouragement, motivation, and love you all bring to my life.

i am thankful for all the memories we've made and look forward to many more.

Lemons, melons and pears - oh my!

A few weeks ago my mom came to the bay area for a visit. The moment she booked her flight, I looked into tickets to Wicked. While they are pricey, the rave reviews made me think it was well worth it.  And I couldn't think of a better person to see the show with than my mom.

The first night of her visit was our Wicked date! We had a lovely dinner and drinks in the East Bay before heading to the show in SF. We got into the theater and took our seats. The curtains were drawn, but the stage decorations that climbed the walls surrounding and above the stage increased my excitement. We anxiously read our programs and kept our eyes peeled on the stage as we waited for it to begin. 

To say I was impressed would be a sore understatement. I've heard many of the songs, and knew the basic storyline but I was completely blown away. The costumes, the songs and the storyline, roughly incorporating the Wizard of Oz, were spectacular. 

With so much to pay attention to, it was hard to catch all of the lines, but there were some great one liners. A favorite of my mom's was "lemons, melons and pears - oh my!" And mine was when the "wicked" witch was holding her broom and the "good" witch said "you don't have to fly off the handle!" These are two of many hilarious lines. 

The next morning as we lazily ate breakfast and watched the Today Show we couldn't stop talking about the musical. It didn't take long until we were watching YouTube videos of the original Wicked cast and some of the most famous songs. I can see why people have been more than once, it's THAT good!

 

The rest of the weekend didn't involve watching YouTube videos, thankfully we got out of the house and had a really nice weekend. We spent time with some extended family, friend and with Brian in Sacramento, took walks and enjoyed the spring weather. Of course we told all the people we spent time with about Wicked - the costumes, the songs and the favorite one liners!

I am so lucky that my mom has come to visit so much. Although it's gotten much easier, I continue to miss home and a large part of that is my family and friends. Having my mom here, or any loved one for that matter, makes home feel a lot closer. So come back real soon, ya hear? I can't promise witches, wands and one liners (oh my) but I can promise a wicked vacation. 

Holiday Highlights, Part One

Holiday Highlights

Part One: Family

I'm currently enjoying my holiday vacation in snowy Colorado. I was lucky enough to get time off work to spend over 10 days here! My favorite part of coming home is seeing family and friends. While the holidays always go fast and feel frenzied, it's so nice to reconnect with loved ones.

I don't come from a large family and we are all spread across the country. My "Colorado family" consists of my mom, brother and myself. Like most families, over the years we've had quite a few Christmas traditions. As of late, the tradition is: dinner on Christmas Eve, then open presents and on Christmas day head to the ski slopes!

In keeping with tradition, on Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner, which was followed by the opening of presents! The next morning we woke up, packed the car and headed to Keystone.

Since there was little to no traffic, we made it to Keystone in no time. The closer we got, the more wind gusts we encountered. As we were pulling into the parking lot my mom and I exchanged the exact same look...BRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Since my brother has a ski pass (and is a TFBA) he was determined to take a few runs. My mom and I would have paid for a full day lift ticket so we opted not to waste money and hit Starbucks instead! It was warm, cozy and still really nice to be IN the mountains watching the snow fall.

It only took 6 very quick runs for my brothers toes and cheeks to freeze. After he downed a hot beverage and thawed out, we snapped a "we were here" photo and were on our way back to Denver!

While the day didn't turn out quite like we'd planned, we all had a great time just being together...even if it was in the car! The beauty of being part of a small family is having flexibility to do whatever we want on holidays. Most of the time we follow traditions and other times, we make up new ones...like skiing at Starbucks!

Our Christmas day concluded with a long standing tradition, dinner at the Armbruster family house. Since the last time I've been to their Christmas dinner a new baby (now 16 months old) has joined the group. The food is always delicious (turkey and ranch mashed potatoes) and it's fun to catch up with family friends we've known forever.

Last, but not least, it's been nice to see this furry face, Romy.

I am grateful for my wonderful little family, the traditions we continue and new ones we create every year! I hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas as well!!