Moving is the Pits....

But Tucker's a big help!

Well, at least he's providing comic relief!

Tucker Time!

Last Sunday we drove down to Boulder to pick up our 8 week old puppy!  We were so excited and so freaked out at the same time - our house isn't quite done and here we are bringing a puppy into the mess (more on that later)!

We named him "Lord Tucker of Manchester"

Lord - His grandfather won Westminster (whatever that means) so he needed a 'title'

Tucker - We loved this name and this is what we call him (we also call him 'Bug' for some reason)

Manchester - 'A's' favorite soccer team

Here's Tucker on our way home in his crate - he was pretty scared and begging to get out!

Once home, we introduced him to the wooly Lamb/Giraffe (not sure what it is exactly), but it's his favorite toy.  He wrestles with it when he's out of the crate and sleeps with it when he's in the crate.

He looks so innocent, but he peed on our new floors 12 times in the first day.  Not his fault at all because he was in a new place, but I started freaking out and thinking that no one under the legal drinking age should be able to adopt a dog, because you need a drink...or three!

After a traumatic bath experience where poor Tucker shook the entire time, he fell asleep in my arms.

And he slept a lot for the rest of the day, he was 'tuckered out'!  Sorry, lame joke.

I know I'm supposed to make him sleep in his crate, but I just couldn't do it the first day.  What's cuter than this?

Puppy Puppy!

The other day I was sitting in our living room and saw the neighbor doggies staring at me through the window.  It was a bit unnerving - like they could sense that something was up.

Dogs are so smart!  After months of discussion and research, 'A' and I have decided to add to our family - we're buying a puppy!  We know it's a huge responsibility, but we're ready for it.  Plus, living in Vail you feel like a complete alien if you don't own a dog.  

We've decided to add to the Golden Retriever cause for "Total Vail Domination."  We found a small breeder in Boulder who has excellent health records, family tree and a long  waiting list. 

Yesterday, we traveled to Boulder to look at the 6 week old puppies and choose our 2 favorites... 

The Golden puppies have a lot of love to give and we got tons of licks all morning.  They were all saying 'Pick me, pick me!!"

At 6 weeks the puppies still waddle around and slip all over the place.  The puppy above just gave up after awhile.

Puppies like to feel sheltered so they were all trying to hide behind our backs and around our legs.

We held each puppy, trying to see which ones we liked and which ones seemed to like us.  We learned that the puppy really chooses the family, not the other way around!   The one I'm holding is sticking his tongue out at 'A'.  They must be a match made in heaven - now I can have 2  mischievous boys in the house!

Here's Becky Hayes, the breeder, holding our favorite boy.  She and her husband (who is a  Veterinarian) have been breeding and showing dogs for a long time.  They own Redog Kennels in Boulder.  They only have a few litters per year and our puppy has champion lines (his grandfather won Westminster in 2002)!  Too bad our champion puppy will only be sitting on his throne in our house all his life and ruling the rivers in Vail.  

Puppy Play!!

The mommy dog, Charlotte, was very happy when 'A' was petting her while nursing.

It was so hard to choose which puppy we loved most - I wanted them all!  We chose our top two and we get to pick him up May 4th (right after we move back into our house!).  

We might be crazy.

Here Comes the Snow...doo...doo...doo...doo

I'm sure that after living with the snow for a year, I will get used to it.  For now, I've been waking up every morning for the last few days and seeing 8 inches of new snow.  I love it, but it's consuming me.  I don't even know what else to write about.  Hopefully I can get out this week to San Francisco (had to cancel my trip last week due to a blizzard).  

Since there's nothing else to do, I've been enjoying some amazing skiing and just embracing it!  The other morning 'A' and Pete went to the gym and then at at Westside Cafe.  This is hands down the best breakfast place in Vail.  I 'poo-pooed" it for months because it's connected to the Holiday Inn in Vail (sorry, I guess I'm more snobby than I thought).  I finally took Pete (our out of town guest) there one morning and have eaten there 3 times this week (oh no!).  Anyway, the other day I had 'A' bring me a breakfast burrito from Westside Cafe and so I could load up before skiing (this is my new excuse for eating a HUGE breakfast). mmmmm......

We then headed to the slopes for a great day of fresh powder.  It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be because the roads were so bad!

View from above the Ritz-Carlton.  This is my favorite place to ski because the snow is great and it's never crowded!

'A' loves doing tricks with his skies.  Makes me completely nervous.
Here's me in the fresh powder.  Weeeeeee.......
We taught Pete how to ski.  He had never seen snow before so I think he did pretty well for a first-timer!
'A' and Pete went up the bunny slope chair...look at Pete holding onto 'A'.  
We love Vail!  I've had 20 days of skiing so far this season, but for someone who lives here, that's just not enough!
 

Snowy Night

I had anxiety all day yesterday about whether we should drive through the storm to Denver so that I could get to San Francisco today.  I think it was too crazy and dangerous out there to risk it, but I couldn't relax all day.  'A' is great at driving in the snow and still had to pull over multiple times on his way to work to clear the windshield wipers of ice.  He said it was the scariest drive he's ever done and that's only minutes from our house.  So we hunkered down in our house and I paced around while 'A' and his buddy Pete (visiting from Orlando) played hours of "Rock Band." I wish I could have relaxed like that.  I woke up this morning and the internet said it snowed only 3" in Vail, but the news said 2 feet.  What?!?!  I haven't been outside yet, but since I have to delay my trip until next week, I'll probably head to the slopes and enjoy some fresh powder!! 

Also, check out the furniture from our rental house!  As you can imagine, I'm anxious to move into our house with our own furniture!  The renovation should be finished April 15th.  Can't wait to share photos.  

Go Away Snow!

Grrrr.....I'm supposed to drive to Denver today to catch a morning flight tomorrow to San Francisco to see my nearest and dearest friends.  Of course, now that I'm supposed to go somewhere we're scheduled to have a huge storm, both in Vail and Denver.  Almost a foot of snow today.  It's blowing out there and I'm not sure I'll be able to make it out of here.  I'll keep my fingers crossed but I'm going to stay safe first!  It's a much needed storm and the skiing has been great, but I need my San Francisco time! Boooooo!

Bring Home The Bacon

We have a ton of guests.  I am always washing sheets and towels, and drinking AND eating.  I love easy recipes for my guests that look like they took a really long time to make.

My friend Breanna, who is a fabulous cook and, I must say, one of the best houseguests EVER, taught me how to make a very easy, mouth-watering appetizer.  

Ingredients:

*Dates 

*Almonds and/or goat cheese

*Bacon 

How To:

1.  Make a small slit on the side of the date so that you can get the pit out.  

2.  Stuff one almond or some goat cheese (or both!) in the opening of the date to create a 'filling'

3.  Cut pieces of bacon in half 

4.  Wrap a 'half-piece' of bacon around each date

5.  Broil in the oven until bacon is cooked.

They don't look very good but they're so yummy and unique!!

Handy Work

My obsession with having nice hands and feet started when I was a ballet dancer in elementary school and came home every night with bloody feet from my pointe shoes.  I was seriously concerned that I would have ugly, scarred feet forever.  So many women I know take such great care of every part of their bodies, except their hands and their feet and these are the things I notice!  No matter where you live, all the cleaning, walking, gardening (or, in my case, slowly but inevitably killing every plant I've bought in Colorado!) and weather elements can make your hands and feet really suffer. 

 

Here are some things that I do that have really helped:

- I keep L'Occitane rich Shea Butter Hand Cream EVERYWHERE.  

- I like L'Occitane Cuticle cream

- If I'm staying home during the day, I slather cream all over my feet, massage it in and put Jason Vitamin E oil all over my toes and rub it into the cuticles (I sometimes put this on my lips and eyes too - it has many uses!).  Then I cover my feet with socks.  I repeat this at night before going to bed - it makes a huge difference.  

- I try to get a manicure/pedicure once a month.  My friend Courtney introduced me to "Doorway 2 the Sole" - it's a wonderful nail spa in Cherry Creek where they do a Glycolic peel on your feet and a moisturizing mask that they slather on with a paint brush.  Plus, my manicure looks fabulous for 2 weeks (which never happened at any other spa!).  I like booking my appointments with Diane Winslow because she's fantastic and completely cracks me up, but everyone who works there is fabulous.  Sometimes I realize that I've been there for 2 hours just hanging out!  

Fabulous Winter Shoes

It snowed 8 inches here last night and just because there is tons of snow and mud on the ground does not mean you have to give up fabulous looking shoes!  Though I spend most of my days trudging around in my Technica Boots, I still like to look nice once in awhile when we go out to dinner in town.  I always get compliments on my Aquatalia boots.  I have two pairs and they are gorgeous boots that also happen to be weatherproof.  When I used to travel for work during the winter, these are all I would wear.  I have had the red ones for 2 winter seasons and they still look practically new.  They have rubber soles so I don't slip on the ice and they are super comfortable.  Check out similar ones in The Krafty Life Store.  

Mmmm....Mmmmm...Good!

Moving to Vail has increased our popularity by.... A LOT.  We have guests all the time and I love it.  Trying to be the "Hostess with the Mostest," I  explored an area that I'm not that great at - Baking.  I was craving Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for our house guests to enjoy and was really looking forward to our house smelling great.  

After trying an online recipe for 'healthy' cookies, I basically only got the good house smell.  The cookies were terrible.  Even 'A', who usually makes me feel so good about my creations, said "Sweetheart, these are really bad."  After all that effort, these cookies were crunchy, tooth-breaking frisbees.  So if anyone has a great recipe, please let me know!!  I need it.

For now, I'm taking our guests out to eat at places like Russell's - it's a steak house but seriously, best crabs legs in the US (and I've lived on the coast).

Back by Popular Demand...

The blog readers loved the post about the deer outside my door.... The deer loved the publicity so they've been coming back often and bringing their friends!  

Cute Baby...

There were more than 15 deer hanging out!

The buck glares at me..... "Are you selling these photos to 'US Weekly'?

Happy Ski Time

Now that we're almost unpacked, I can enjoy some great time on the slopes!  

Skiing alone can be fun because I can go at my own pace and enjoy nature, though I get more exercise when 'A' and I ski together since I spend the entire day trying to catch up with him.

After skiing my favorite place to go is the "Red Lion" for hot wings and a Blue Moon beer.  If I want something nicer, I go to "Sweet Basil" for an Alpine Vesper and a fancy burger with truffle fries!  

Bambi and Friends

Today I was scrubbing the carpet on the stairs (oh yes, taking time off of work is GLAMOUROUS) and a whole family of deer came to hang out with me at the house - see, I DO have friends in Vail.   I asked them if they wanted to help me with the scrubbing but they tried to hide from me.  See how toxic all those household cleaners are?  The fumes are making me talk to the wildlife and ask them for favors.