Skiing in Colorado

In early February, Guillaume and I and some friends took a trip to Colorado to go skiing. We enjoyed great weather and had an excellent time.

After flying into Denver, we got our rental car and immediately headed to Idaho Springs in order to grab some lunch and a beer at the TommyKnocker brewery. Idaho Springs looks like it hasn't changed much since it was founded in the 1800s. The brewery gets its name from the TommyKnocker spirits that haunted the gold miners back when Idaho Springs was a gold mining town. While our waiter was a bit of a space cadet, the food was good and their beer was delicious. We bought ourselves a "piglet", which is like a small cardboard keg, of the Tommy Knocker Ale (I think) to take home with us. All the breweries in the area seem to sell these piglet things.

About 45 minutes or so later, we arrived in Dillon, where we picked up the keys to our condo that we found on vrbo.com. Our condo was located at the base of the mountain in Keystone. We decided that we would stay in Keystone because I had stayed there before with my former roommate, Lindsay, and also because of its proximity to other nice mountains, such as Breckenridge and Vail.

The condo was excellent! It had a nice kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a gas fireplace and access to a hot tub. We could see Keystone mountain from our balcony. There were long icicles hanging from the snow-blanketed roof. A short bus ride took us to the village where there are restaurants and shops. We could walk to the base lifts.

We arrived on Saturday and the next day was Super Bowl Sunday, so we decided to stay close to home. The football lovers stopped skiing early to watch the game at a dive bar conveniently located near our condo. The Goat was an interesting place and was filled with locals. A BBQ snack bar was attached to it. The menu included Tater Tots and our dinner cost us about $7 total. Needless to say, we only spent one night at The Goat.

On Monday, we hit Breckenridge. It was a brutally cold and windy day. Despite our millions of layers, we could still feel the wind coming through our jackets. We hid our faces behind masks and gators and shivered on the chairlift. During lunch, the more expert skiers hit the bowls while Claudina and I waited in the lodge. The views from the lodge windows were gorgeous.

The next morning we woke up with aching calves and spent the next few days in Keystone. Eventually, we headed to Vail to experience the chi-chi village and try some new trails. Vail was very,very, very nice, but the trails seemed a bit flatter and more crowded. We had dinner in a nice French restaurant in the village. All in all it was an excellent day.

Back at Keystone, we skied our favorite slopes and ate at the Snake River Saloon. Before dinner, we shot some pool as we waited for a table to open up. It was quite crowded and had a different (better) atmosphere than The Goat. I ate a delicious steak and Guillaume tried the pork with black cherry sauce. It was really good. Another night, we went to the BigHorn Steakhouse where I had a delicious rack of lamb. Yum.

As usual, the vacation was over way too quickly. I can't wait to go skiing again.

Amy Turns 24

Guillaume and I journeyed to New Jersey on Sunday to celebrate Amy's 24th birthday. My parents took us all out to dinner to a local restaurant in Randolph to celebrate. We had a delicious dinner and yummy desserts. It was nice to see everyone.

Pictured: The birthday girl.

The Ornate and Excessive Holiday Party

Guillaume and I were invited to a semi-famous holiday party in the neighborhood in December. Part of the fun of the party is that the dress code is always different. This year, we received a very elegant invite in the mail directing us to dress in an ornate and excessive manner. Unfortunately, Guillaume was already in France and couldn't go to the party. So, I went with Tara, Bill and Terry.

Figuring out what to wear was tough for me as I am definitely not an ornate and excessive kind of gal. Tara suggested that I wear a gold dress that I have that I usually use for weddings. I ended up wearing that, but it's more of a summer dress and there was a snowstorm on the day of the party. I had to walk to the party in the snow. I ended up wearing my Wellies and sweatpants underneath my dress and changed when I got there.

Tara and I met a lot of new friends at the party and had a great time. One of the highlights was when Terry, who lives upstairs from the party hosts, brought down Larry, his Boston Terrier. As a result of meeting Larry, Boston Terriers are my new favorite dog breed. Though, I think that Larry's just a charming guy in general and it would be hard to find another dog like him.

Pictured: Tara, Bill and Heather in front of the Christmas tree at Jeff and Andrew's place and (bottom, left) Larry.

Heather's Birthday at Von in NYC

This year, I had a fantastic little birthday get together at Von in New York City. We spent some time hanging out and chatting and then headed to another place for dancing. Here's a photo of Amy and I at the bar.

Awesome 80s Prom in NYC

This year for Elaine's birthday, we went to the Awesome 80s prom at Webster Hall in New York City. You had to wear 80s attire. One of elaine's friends wore her prom dress from high school. It was a strange experience!

Bonne Annee 2009!

On December 26, I hopped on a plane from JFK and headed to Paris where Guillaume was waiting to pick me up a the airport. He had already been in France for a week and I joined him for the second week.

Despite the very cold weather, we had a blast. We spent some time with Guillaume's friends in Paris and at their homes. We saw Guillaume's grandparents and spent time with his parents and brother and sister.

The first night, we met Patrice and Aurelien at Le Piano Vache and had a ball. Another night, we met a group of Guillaume's friends and went out for fondue at a restaurant in the Latin Quarter. We ate tons of meat and cheese and I learned a new French phrase that means translates to mean bad wine.

On New Year's Eve, after eating another delicious dinner with Guillaume and his family, we headed to Arnaud and Jennifer's house to see everyone and ring in the new year. We met Louis-Maxime's and Virginie's little newborn sleeping daughter there. She is adorable!

We spent the days wandering around Paris in the cold weather. Some mornings it snowed, which was very pretty. We went shopping at Printemps and saw all the christmas decorations on the big stores. We also visited Bon Marche because I hadn't been there. We decided to visit the Eiffel Tower one night to see the lights. I hadn't been there since my first trip to France with Joanne, ten years ago.

Right before we left France, we had a raclette night with Guillaume's family. This was really fun. there was a huge wheel of cheese that we cut into small pieces, lots of yummy cured meat, small cooked potatoes and those little pickles and onions that I love. It's a bit like fondue. There is a machine with many little drawers in the center of the table. Everyone gets a drawer and puts a piece of cheese in it. The cheese melts and then you drip it over your meat or potato. It gives you time to chat while the cheese is melting. It's very fun.

Guillaume and I couldn't get the same flight home, so I left on a different day. The day I left, there was a huge snowstorm in Paris, which caused huge delays and made everyone angry at the airport. I spent my extra time in the airport buying and Astrix comic book and working on my huge pile of French homework that my teacher gave me before her maternity leave. Time went by fairly quickly and I got all of my homework done. I also managed to get the last sandwich in the airport, which almost caused a brawl.

We had an excellent trip and wait to go back again!

PICTURED: Heather (top, right) in front of Notre Dame; Guillaume's mom's homemade Tarte Tatin second from top, left); Heather and Guillaume (third from top, right) in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background; (above) The fondue pot at the restaurant where we went with Guillaume's friends; and the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night.

Christmas Eve 2008

Happy 2009 everyone! The end of 2008 was an extremely busy time for me busily planning holiday events at work and preparing for the holidays at home. 

After hosting a children's christmas party at my office on the morning of Christmas eve, I took the train to NJ to join my family's annual Chris

tmas eve event. Aunt Kathryn, my cousins and my parents and sister were all there. 

We had a delicious dinner cooked by my mom (and I'm sure my dad and Amy helped) of pork with beans and pasta salad and all kinds of stuff.  Dessert was also delicious as my mom made her famous cake and 

there were tons of excellent cookies and other treats.

After dinner, we opened our presents and hung out. Somehow Peter found an antique 

toy that Jeff had lost when he was a child.

 Liz and Pete got some electric

 salt and pepper grinders. I got some beautiful sake glasses. Liz and I also received the most amazing pop-up book I've ever seen!  Jill and Paige got a brand new guitar! Jeff played us a few songs. The sound of the guitar was beautiful.

This Christmas Eve tradition has been happening for many years. Until my grandmother moved in with my p

arents, she hosted it every year at her house. I'm not sure who did hosted it before she did. Maybe my dad's grandma. As usual, we had a great time with everyone. 

After everyone went home, we opened our own presents, which was unusual because we usually do that in the morning. Mom wanted to open the gifts early because she bought a Wii for Amy and Dad and she was excited about it. Well, needless to say they loved it. We set it up and played games for the rest of the time I was there!