Winter X-Games Future Competitor

I wanted to call this blog "Winter X-games future champion", but I don't see myself getting very far if I ever qualify for the Winter X-games in my newest sport... snowboarding. Bobby* and crew talked me into a last minute trip to the world famous snowy mountains of Breckenridge, CO (an hour and a half west of Denver). After a 2 hour flight that left me without my luggage, a nearly 2 hour drive though the ice-coated mounted past multi-car accidents, and a trip to Wal-Mart - I was finally in the really cool 2 bedroom condo with garden tub and heated floors. But that wasn't why I was there...

By 11AM Saturday Bobby and I were in the parking lot of Peak 9 / Beaver Run. Here's me:

Here's Bobby:

Cold huh? The temperature was between 15 and -3(?) degrees most of the time we were there - and Sunday there was a "nice" wind chill on top of the cold temps. But I was HOT. The guy at REI in Bloomington, MN hooked it up. I walked in and said "I have 10 minutes to get to the airport and I need warm stuff to take with me". He helped me pull together my snowboarding outfit:

The North Face Allure Jacket **claimed (and proven) to be the warmest snowboarding jacket on the market.

Under Armour ColdGear Colorblock Top and Frosty Tight **these worked WONDERS

Volkl Supersport Snow Pant (on clearance at TJ Maxx)

With a few other layers of "dry fit" clothing I thought I was all set, until I got outside and realized I was missing tons of other stuff (goggles, scarf, gloves, face mask, etc). In the first pic you can see the "oh-so-important" handwarmers. Now all they need to invent are fingertip warmers....

I snapped a few pics of the mountains and other snow junkies too... the first is the oh-so-scary "Cherish Mountain" - the only one I was able to conquer during the weekend!

The item of the day is a shoe that Summer and I have been raving about all day! The Lacoste Albany - comfort and style. These would go great with some jeans...

 

Welcome to the New Year!

My first week of the new year has been exhausting already. But I'm happy. Starting a new year always makes me feel like you get one more chance to clean up your life and try to pass the goals you reached and the goals you didn't reach in the previous year. I had a wonderful Christmas break in Detroit with my family and spent New Years in Chicago. There was quite a bit of shopping and lots of great food. My favorite gift was the HP Express Card TV Tuner - It allows me to use the "new" laptop that I love so much and watch or record cable TV shows to watch later. The girls and I went back to Brio Tuscan Grill (the same place from New Years Eve 2006) and had a wonderful meal. Some of us were able to get a picture with the chef afterwards...

...I also got a cute, soft gray wool skirt by a little known NY designer Neil Sperling which I wore as a dress over a BCBG tee. I got the skirt from OUEST (pronounced West) - a cool boutique in the West Loop area. It turned out to be such a cute outfit, topped off with the New Lancome Color Fever Lipstick in Rock Icon Fuchsia. I saw a pick of a girl in Glamour wearing this super bright pink and had to have it. I left my camera so there are no picks of me but here is the model on the Lancome site wearing the same color. BRIGHT!

During the trip to Chicago we went to my favorite breakfast place, Le Peep, and I found a new dinner/drinks spot - Salud Tequila Lounge. The atmosphere was great and the guacamole was to do for. We went there twice and both times got the guacamole sampler (with regular, chunky and fruit guacamole) and the fresh lobster tacos! This was my first time doing tequila shots and while I kept the guacamole down, lets just say I'm done with tequila already. Here is a pic of the guacamole before I destroyed it.

On to the item of the day... I saw this super-hot boot in the window of Neiman Marcus and wanted it. It will probably hurt my feet... heck, my ankles and calves too. But it would be so WORTH IT!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!