10 posts tagged “vacation”

Wow, its been a few days, huh?

I suppose that's just fine and dandy as I never promised I would write daily, at least I didn't promise it to you guys. I only promised myself that I would try to write more often if for nothing else than to try to keep my sanity. So here I am. Hi! *waving*

At times, these things are likely boring to you, but I need to keep track of them and I like to look back at my blog down the road to see what was going on back in the day. :-)

With their fifth consecutive win, the Pittsburgh Steelers take the Denver Broncos....and stuff them mile high. Great game. Thank you, gentlemen.

The countdown continues. It's a mere 16 days until my first 5K. I already did my registration and everything. I just have to pick up my packet in a couple of weeks. I am hoping against all hope that Ida will be long gone tomorrow morning. She caused a little havoc yesterday morning as I TRIED to run. But, when the wind is blowing at about 15mph with gusts up to 30, it's a little tough.

Next on the agenda is vacation! I can't believe there are only 45 more days! We have most of the big stuff handled like flights, house, and equipment so now we only have lessons, food choices and the ever-important spa day for scheduling. I picked up some sweet Under Armour that I really hope does a good job. I hate being all bulky on the mountain!

Holy smokes, shortly after vacation finishes, 36 days to be exact, is graduation! It took me a while, but I'm proud to say I'm finally getting that paper. The question becomes what will I do with this elusive piece of paper and will it mean anything to anyone of importance? These answers and many more on the next episode of Soap.

Do you think that's enough to worry about? You're right, it probably is, but I'm not being me if I'm not overloading my plate with things to do. As such, the short list of the rest of it is below. The first bullet deserves its own paragraph or entire post, but that's for a later date.

• Hi, wedding. I guess you're not gonna plan yourself although I have thankfully little to do to plan you. But every time I think about it, I remember something else. Aargh.
  
• Group fitness instructor training - Yes, I ordered all your stuff today. I hope to be certified by the end of January. That's certified, not certifiable, which I already am.
• Social networking - It's more than just talking to you guys! :-D And I told my chiro that I'd see what I could do for him. Is it weird that I would only be able to do the whole social networking thing for someone I know/something I believe in?
• Business plan - So I've got this idea. I just need to gather materials, put in some labor, create a website, register a domain name. OMG I have a lot of crap to do! As I'm getting closer with this idea, I'll share. I promise.

This post comes with a disclaimer:

Writer will not be held responsible for any feelings of boredom, jealousy, anxiety or anything else of the reader upon finishing this post.  Oh, and it'll probably be long.

Thursday: I couldn't bring myself to stay at work all day.  Excitement had finally caught up to me and I was ready to get going!  Even leaving work at around 1:30, we still couldn't manage to get over to the hotel before about 5:30.  We had an early dinner at Chili's before leaving and then went to raid the candy section of the Hudson News in the terminal we were in.  Happily watched Smallville and called it a night.

Friday: Ah yes, I hate flying.  So that's why I was chugging a beer at around 6 am.  Flights were quite uneventful which is always a great thing.  We arrived at the house at a little after 2pm. 

There was no unpacking to be done as we wanted to get over to the mountain right away to take advantage of the free lift ticket that you could get in exchange for a copy of your boarding pass and showing your ID.  What a great offer!

We took a few runs and then stopped by both the liquor store (for Devastator) and the grocery store (for the box of cereal that I housed that week).  By this time, everyone had made it to the house; we were a party of 10.  Btw, the house was super sweet.  That photo shows the front and you walk into a mudroom with a master bedroom off to the left and to the right.  A staircase takes you to the second floor which has the kitchen, dining room, living room, doors to that little balcony you can see, laundry room, a bathroom, and the steps to the thrid floor.  Up on three were two more bedrooms and a small loft area with a Ninetendo 64. Oh, out the back door on the second floor there was a jacuzzi and a sauna (neither of which I used..I'm weird like that).  We called it a little early.

Saturday: I woke up to pee thinking it had to be nearly 7:30, but no, it was only about 2:30.  UGH!

Saturday: For real this time, we went to breakfast over at The Clockwork Cafe.  I really love egg sandwiches.  We took the beautiful ride up the Town Lift and spent the morning hitting the slopes.  Odd, I really forget to eat when I'm up there.  I chug water like it's going out of style, but I have to be reminded to eat.  I'm a nut.

Due to some folks within the party taking some spills, we decided that it would be best if we all took a lesson on Monday and we went back to the house after lunch.

I went for the annual best-massage-of-my-life massage.  Let me just tell you that you might think you're in heaven if you spend a little time over at Aura.  I had the Third Eye Package.  Fell asleep once during the wrap and THREE TIMES during the massage.  Seriously, to the point that I was snoring.  Fantastic!

Sunday: THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS ARE THE SUPERBOWL XLIII CHAMPS!!!! 

Monday: Mmmm, more egg sandwiches!  The lesson was great.  I got some pointers and I'm feeling more confident on my board.  Superb pad thai for dinner.  This is the week I eat more food than I really should. :-)

Tuesday: [this day kicked ass] Know why?  Do ya?  Do Ya?  Huh?  Huh?  Huh?!?!?  Okay, because I'm so slow to post about vacation, you may already know. :-P

I had the pleasure to be a part of a Mountain Meetup and the Utah Sisterhood of the Steelers was formed.  Should I make a t-shirt that says "I met Kevin Wolf and all I got was this crappy t-shirt?" Nah, he might like that too much. :-P  Much more imiportant on a chick level is that Jillzey kicks ass!  I triple dog dare you to say anything different!  You guys rock and made my vacation a happy place.  As if you haven't seen their photos, I'll post mine of the group as well.

That was pretty much the face Kiddo had all the time so no offense to the company. 

I think she's trying to be the next generation's surly bastard.

Lovey and I have long been discussing moving out of Miami.  Our first choice was to the Salt Lake City area, then we switched to outside of Boulder, but now I do believe that we are back to the SLC area.  Because that much coolness over there -----------------------------> cannot be limited to once a year.

Wednesday: Another great day on the mountain.  Let me tell you something.  I grew up eating venison and it's damn delicious.  I haven't had it in quite some time, we're talking 10 years easy and I miss it.

Well, that all got taken care of on Wednesday night.  Lovey and I went to dinner at 350 Main.

OMG!  It was friggin delicious!

We shared a bottle of Hess chardonnay (yummy) and had the Four Cheese Ravioli (L) and the Tower of Ahi and Hamachi (me).  Great Googly Moogly best Ahi ever!  Lovey had the Steak Frites and I had the Venison Medallions hold the pepper.  Not even joking, I think I wet my pants a little.  It was THAT good.  Don't let the lack of a listing of desserts fool you.  They had them and they were good too.  Oh, creme brulee, we are good friends.

Thursday: Last day out on the mountain.  It was the first day where we had some overcast yuckiness which means flat spots which means I can't see things until I'm right up on them and then face down in the snow.  Um, no thank you.  I have some shopping to do before we go.

Thought about buying a sweet Roots Park City sweatshirt but couldn't bring myself to do it.  Got some yummy sweets from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

All that was left was dinner and packing.

Friday: All week, the sky was blue and there was hardly a cloud to be seen.  Great for me but not so much for the rest of the group that wanted to see snow.  So as we are up bright and early to head to the airport, what do we wake up to?  Oh, around 3 or 4 inches of fresh powder.  Ha!  Someone's got bad karma.

All in all, a really good time.  And no, I don't know what you're talking about...we aren't already starting to plan for next year!  

So I'm a little slow in posting this.  I'm okay with that. :-P

There were photos.  I mean other than the random ones that I posted from my phone.  Of course, they're in my Flickr account.  A lot of them will look similar since I found the function on my camera that takes a bunch of pictures in a row.  I tried to keep those ones toward the end and keep the more interesting ones in the front for your viewing pleasure.

• Friday - Typically, we wouldn't leave until Saturday morning, but we got the word that the house was ready so after work we packed up all of our stuff (why can't we ever travel light?) and hit the road.  iPhones make for great timewasters especially when you can play with the GPS.  I'd guess it was close to 10 by the time we made it down to the Keys so there wasn't much to do but unpack and rest.
• Saturday - Good morning, RAIN!  You suck!  You kill outside plans.  But Lovey's mom cooked for us and damn was it good.
• Sunday - The plan was to go out on the boat.  Some friends were coming down and we were to make a day of it.  Guess what?  Good morning, RAIN!  YOU STILL SUCK!  Good evening Lovey's mom.  You make the most fantastic dinners.  EVER! (do I really wonder why I can't lose any weight?!?!)
• Monday - It's still raining.  But you know what's fun in any weather?  Knocking down some pins!  Yeah, bitches, we went bowling.  I LUUURVE bowling.  I can't help it.  I practically grew up in a bowling alley and knew how to keep score before I was 10.  Later on, I bowled with my folks in a league.  Good times.  But I digress.  COSMIC bowling!  Yeah, I was p-s-y-c-h-e-d (psyched is what we wanna be, get psyched, alright Leps, get psyched).  I donned my bowling shoes (just noticed that cafepress has a gajillion bowling shirts!)
  

  Bowling
  and found a ball that wouldn't rip my arm off and got set up.  Let's just say that these particular lanes haven't necessarily been well taken care of.  If you've been bowling or watched it, you might see folks slide on that last step before releasing the ball.  Yep, tried that and damn near fell on my face AND broke my knee off.  Damn you humidity.  Know what else humidity does?  Warps lanes.  Oil might help the situation but I think there was only one small patch on the entire lane.  I'm about a 150 average (on the Wii, lol) and maybe about 120 or so when I was bowling for real, so bowling under 100 didn't please me.  Oh, and when you hear the ball bump over the warped part of the lane, over the music, I might add, it's just time to throw in the towel and finish the pitcher.
• Tuesday - Would you believe it was a little rainy?  Apparently it hadn't rained in months before we came but thankfully it could rain for three straight days on our vacation.  Oh well.  At least I got to sleep in and drink the pineapple/mango/Parrot Bay combo all day.
• Wednesday - Let's hit the road to Key West!!  We stayed in the most awesome place!  Their pictures don't do it justice.  We rocked the "private suite".  It was like a little apartment.  Schweet!  Last year, we walked everywhere.  This year, we came better prepared with our bicycles.  Much easier to stop back at the hotel when it only takes a couple minutes. Hello frozen drink containing grain alcohol, bourbon, 151, vodka, lemonade and grape juice.  And hello delicious food!
• Thursday - Giddyup!  Continental breakfast, chillin in the pool, laying around, riding bikes, taking pictures, SWEATING!  So, so hot.  Nighttime bars that included live music and a ridiculously drunk local that I have a picture of but am too lazy to upload.
• Friday - Back north to Key Largo.  We must chill on this last day and chill we do.  There's nothing like the freedom to do nothing.  Ordered subs from a local place that ROCKED!
• Saturday - Home again, home again.  It's always nice to go on vacation but it's just as nice to come home to the familiarity of my own bed!

And that's it in a nutshell, kids. 

Hell yeah because we just picked up our tickets for the Park City vacation for.....wait for it.....

$294 Dollars round trip!!!

Dude, super inexpensive!  STOKED!

A very green top 'o the mornin to ya Voxiverse!  Kisses to all the Irish lads and lassies out there!

Unfortunately, I didn't have the luck of the Irish this weekend.  Going into the weekend, I was positive that one, two, or all three of the following things would happen: win poker tourney, win the lottery, win a house in the Keys.  Yeah, none of those things happened.  Sure, I can't control the last two, nor could I totally control the first but hey, there's always next week. :-)

Kiddo, Lovey and I braved the spring break crowds and went to the beach this weekend.  It's really only the traffic that's bad and we missed that on the way in because we go early and leave early.  On top of that, we hang at the end of the beach where not many tourists bother to go.  Good times.  Well, good times minus the sunburn.  I was bad to my skin and didn't have any sunscreen on (except on my face) and thus, got burnt.  It isn't too bad though, just a smidge on the shoulders and chest. 

I don't usually go in the water.  It's cold to me.  It is March though so it's gonna be chilly.  But it was near 90 yesterday and I needed to cool off and the 2 bottles of water, a Capri Sun, and several beers weren't doing it.  In I went.  I also took my non-waterproof camera to try out the panoramic picture taking.  I think it came out pretty well.  What do you think?

Southbeach

All in all, good weekend.  Oh yeah, and we have a break between classes this week so it's nice to be able to relax before we head into the next session.  International Business here we come!  More importantly, Honduras here we come!  9 days and counting.

Today was the day to chillax.  Therefore there's not much to say about today.  We just hung out and caught an afternoon lunch.  By the way, if you're ever in the area, you must have a Devastator.  Seriously, how could you NOT order a beer called the Devastator?  It's really good.  Kinda like an Amber Bock but better.  Two beers = almost drunk and the arrival of Chatty Cathy.

Devastator

Also, I tried a self-portrait.  I've never really thought of my self as "pretty"; I think I'm "different" and that's cool.  So here's my eskimo photo ( it's like you can't even tell that I have lipstick on):

Self_portrait

We're having some rocking Mexican food tonight, everyone's got smiles, the Beastie Boys are online and we're having a damn good time.  Peace, love and hairgrease, ya'll!

Somewhere on this blog is a widget that shows the countdown to Park City, probably lower left.  Tomorrow we leave.

I'm going to try to be a good blogger and take lots of pictures and have lots of descriptions in case any of you decide you want to check out PC one of these days.

By this time tomorrow, we should be almost to Denver and by this time on Saturday, we'll be scarfing down breakfast in order to get to our lessons on time.

I'm not as excited as Kiddo (it's only her second time snowboarding) or Lovey (it'll be his first time to see real snow falling from the sky), but I think I'll pick it up a notch once we're actually over there.

So, we're all packed and ready to go, minus repacking Kiddo's clothes from her 'going to Gramma's' suitcase to her 'going on vacation' suitcase.  During our drive up to Jacksonville, she graciously asked to stay in Jacksonville longer than Lovey and I were capable of staying and my mom was happy to have her for longer.  Kiddo doesn't even see the house before we leave.  She lands today at 6:40pm and we pick her up and go straight to the hotel that's by the airport since our flight is at the unholy hour of 7am tomorrow.  (I don't know why I complain since that's the time I typically leave the house for work.)  Lovey and I had a very quiet week.  It was nice.

So there you have it.  Today 40 degrees in Miami, tomorrow 30 degrees in Park City.  Funny.  Let's move the needle forward!

Okay Vox world, I am asking for your help.  In a mere 17 days, we'll be headed out to UT for a week of shredding (hopefully only snow and not knees).  So what I need to know is if you've been to PC, is there a spot that's a must see or something that is a must do while there?  We're a crazy bunch so all suggestions are welcome.  Thanks!!

A line taken from my brother but I really like it.

It's late in the day, but I was caught up in work all day, or until one when I left.  It's mini-vacation time folks.  We're headed off tomorrow morning for the weekend.  I'm going to try to remember to take pictures and if anything might be of interest, I may post next week.

Today my horoscope said something rather interesting.

Do not turn down any opportunities today, Shawneen, even if they seem like dead-end roads at first. This one could be your lucky break. Realize that success doesn't always have a big neon sign pointing you in the right direction. Prosperity simply comes because we act freely and instinctively. This is one of those days in which an unmarked door can lead you to the yellow brick road of happiness and well-being.

(Damn you Vox, I consider myself fairly intelligent, but I can't get my font back to what it was before the blockquote.)

So, this is cool because yesterday, I was given an opportunity for which I needed to follow up today and after reading that little tidbit, I followed through with full force.  Maybe after I have more details, I'll post about that too.

Last night was my first class of the second session of pole fitness.  I'm still up in the air as to if I will enjoy this session.  I already know it won't be as good as the first session since the teacher insists on calling me by the wrong name. (She puts an A at the end.  Even after I pronounced it correctly.  Even after I spelled it.  Even after she looked at it on paperwork I filled out.)  But it's a step towards being the Level 6 hoochie that I aspire to be. :-)

In the studio where class is held, the walls are painted red and it looks like they were lightly sponged with black over it.  I guess the idea is to create a sexy atmosphere.  It does a decent job when the lights are dimmed or pointed in the right direction.  There's a floor-to-ceiling mirror all along the front wall also so that we can see what we're doing (or how badly we're doing it).

If you didn't already know, I live in Miami.  Home to Latinos and Blacks with a sprinkling of plain ole white folks as well as a few others.  So when you think about the women here, it's a lot of tits and ass.  Think Shakira, J-Lo, Beyonce (or Bouncy as my Pop called her).  Lotsa curves everywhere.

It was towards the end of class when we were all just kinda standing around not doing much when I looked up at the mirror.  Everyone could be seen, although only silhouetted.  This has never happened before and it will probably never happen again.  I thought to myself: Gee, maybe I need to gain some weight.  That's right, I said gain some weight.  In the land of salsa and merengue, I guess hips, ass and well, some belly work well.  I literally thought that I looked unhealthily skinny compared to these other women.  One woman has the kind of ass that each cheek waves to you for every step she takes.  Hi!!  Hello!  Hi there!  Hey, lookit me!

Now, the reality is that I'm a hair under 5'2" and I'm rocking a good 125, sometimes 130 pounds.  I'm pretty muscular due to 4 years of flying trapeze. 

I used to hand out tickets to the gun show.  After I stopped flying, I got soft, squishy even and went up to about 140.  When my mom asked my brother if I was pregnant, I knew that's when it was time to start working out again.

Presently, I'm what I like to call fit.  I'm happy with where I am for the most part (nothing a little boob job can't fix) and I just can't believe that I thought that last night.  I blame it all on my surroundings.  

You know, just like cocaine's a helluva drug, Miami's a helluva place to live.  It can bring you to the heights of your night, excite you, give you the shakes.  It could do absolutely nothing for you and leave you wondering what all the hype's about.  It can drain your wallet before you know what hits you.  And for some, it can be addictive.

But not for me.  I've seen what cocaine Miami has to offer and I tried it.  I thought it was cool for a while but now I'm just over it.  I'm ready to go cold turkey.  I'm ready.

Snowboarding

A mere 43 days remain until our long-awaited vacation, and yes, we are counting.  As you can tell from the picture, we're headed north to the snow.  Preparations have been ongoing for months now with everything from booking (and then changing, and changing again) our cabin, dealing with the airlines that seem to want to change our flights every time we decide where we want to sit, and clothing the masses.  By the way, here's where we're going.

So this trip is exciting on so many levels.  First, it is our first family vacation, (an ex-roommate and his girlfriend count as family, right?), myself, my daughter and my boyfriend.  I'm so stoked that everyone gets along and we can go on this trip.  Second, it's my boyfriend's first time to see real live snow!  I'm glad that I get to share this first with him.  Third, it is the first time for everyone on the trip, excluding myself, to go skiing or snowboarding.  I'm no pro, don't worry, I won't get too far ahead of them, but I like to think that I have a clue.  Fourth, it's VACATION!!  One entire week of sleeping in, staying up late, and in general relaxation.

All of our ducks are in a row and they are waiting to glide down the mountain.  Is it the end of December yet?!?!