I know I’m a little behind on sharing this momentous news, but you’ll be happy to know I returned from Vail in one piece. Not only did I stay on the mountain this time rather than skiing right off the side, I went up that mountain countless times and made it all the way back down to the bottom four days in a row. I’m quite proud of myself.

Proof I made it to the top

Kenny and I flew from Miami with five of our friends, while Kenny’s cousins flew out from New York. Plus Kenny’s sister Sarah and her crew drove out from Denver, as well as Kenny’s best friend Jay. It took four cars and two 3 bedroom condos to house all 17 of us, but somehow we did it – and we are all super excited to do it all again next year.  It’s one hell of an annual family get-together that I’m ecstatic to be a part of.

There’s always an interesting story or two to bring back with us. Last year, our foodie-friend Trevor was so intent on having stone crabs for our trip that he had them shipped (un-cracked of course) across the country for our trip. After an hour of cracking, with shells everywhere and the whole place smelling like crab, we feasted. And then put the garbage bag with the shells out on the balcony. Which prompted a fox to visit.

“You will give me stone crabs…  NOW…”

This year, Trevor decided he didn’t want to spend an hour cracking stone crabs, so he brought a bottle of wine instead. To the airport. In his carry-on. And of course he was forced by security to switch the bottle to his suitcase, to be thrown in the bottom of the plane. I was certain he would arrive in Denver with a suitcase full of broken glass and wine. But I was wrong.

Delicious 30 year old tawny port, from Miami to Vail.

The only problem was… well, I guess it wasn’t really a ‘problem’ but once it was opened, we had to finish the bottle before we left – a task that Trevor and I took very seriously.

Anyway – here are some more pictures from our trip that help illustrate why I absolutely can’t wait for next year’s trip already.

The views

The tranquility

The beauty

And of course, the friends…

The family…

…and whatever you call this…

I’ve been noticing an 80′s throwback trend in alternative music lately, and I’m loving it.  Some blatantly embracing 80′s synth-pop more than others, like this song.  It could literally be tacked to the end of any Molly Ringwald movie and it would totally work.

In fact, I could have taken any song off Twin Shadow’s album “Confess,” and thrown it into the mix I played during the 80′s theme party I threw for my birthday last year, and no one would have noticed, I’m certain of it.

Kind of makes you feel nostalgic for a nice pair of leg warmers, doesn’t it?

(Also great: “You Call Me On” and “Golden Light“)

Today, I invite you to come with me on a journey – of pain.

It’s that time of year again – the time of year when I hurtle my body down the side of an icy mountain and attempt to arrive at the bottom in one piece, all in the name of ‘fun.’ When and where will this ‘fun’ be occurring you might ask? You can witness it for yourself in Vail, Colorado, the last weekend of February.

Alright, if you can’t make it, I understand – I will post pictures when I return. IF… I return…

My very first time skiing, I was actually sort of a natural. The feeling was incredible. I could swoosh, and zoom, and race, and turn, and stop – stopping is important – and I looked SO sexy skiing, I didn’t want to stop.

But then we had to move off of the bunny slope cause it was time for the 3 year olds to have lessons.

My skiing lesson essentially over, it was time to conquer the mountain, and I was ready. Up we went on the gondola with our guide, an expert snowboarder living in Vail who knew the mountain by heart. “We will go down only beginner trails, I promise,” he said. Followed by “I think it’s this way…” Still, I was confident this would be a piece of cake. After all, Kenny had explained everything I needed to know about skiing before we arrived, and it all sounded pretty simple:

Bend your knees a little;
Ski from side to side to control your speed;
Keep your skis parallel and make a wedge to slow down;
Don’t ski off the side of a catwalk cause you’ll slide straight down the mountain and die.

Got it.

Off we went, I was skiing side to side, using my wedge, left, right, left, right, on and on toward a catwalk that broke sharp to the right. Only, I was coming down fast, my skis pointing left when it was time to turn right onto the catwalk. Forgetting my wedge, and pretty much everything else I had ever learned in my entire life, I sat down on my butt in an attempt to stop…

and slid right off the side of the mountain. Yep.

All I could think on my way down was “Sonnnnnyyyyyy Bonoooooooooo…!!!”

I came to a stop upside down with my skis tangled in some aspen branches, my legs pinning my shoulders down in a 5 foot heap of snow. Kenny had to climb down, pop me out of my skis and dig me out. If I wasn’t embarrassed enough already, (I mean, I had totally blown it in front of our talented snowboarder guide, who was still trying to figure out which trail we should take) my sister-in-law was laughing her ass off so loudly that a crowd started to gather. And then ski patrol showed up asking if we needed assistance (which sounded a lot like “Do you need us to fly in a helicopter to get you off the mountain?”) “No, no, no, please…. I’m fine,” I said as a horde of 5 year olds whisked by onto the catwalk.

Although that incident lives on in my psyche, causing my knees to knock a little even now, I continue to return to Vail to try it all again and again. I don’t know why, so don’t even ask.

Anyway, all that time our house was under renovation, when we had no kitchen and were eating out every single day, I gained 10 pounds. I know that’s not much, but my ski pants were already a little snug last year when I was 10 pounds lighter. Not to mention, it’s become sort of important to me to at least look good when I ski into the trees and die.

I’ve never really been “fit” – I’m an asthmatic, and I live by my motto that ‘I run ONLY if there is a bear chasing me’ – and in South Florida, you can easily decipher how often that is.

But to prepare for all of this “F.U.N.” I’m gonna have skiing this year, I’ve decided to “R.U.N.” It’s insane, I know. I figure I will either lose those 10 pounds, become incredibly fit, and ski like a beast – or I’ll die trying.

I did a walk/run for the first time today, and I gotta be honest – I feel like total shit. I’m nauseous, my legs are screaming, and my head is pounding – yet, I already plan to do this again on Monday morning.

All in the name of FUN.

Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

It’s been a long time in the making, but it’s finally here: The Big REVEAL…

Remember when I said we had a few delays?  The very DAY after I announced we were only ‘one week’ from being finished, we got a call from the kitchen installer telling us that our doors and drawers would not be ready until mid-January.  Thankfully, Kenny knows how to twist an arm like a pro, and he got the installer to agree to put up temporary doors and drawers in the interim so that we could go through the holidays feeling somewhat normal.  We spent the last month being ‘almost-but not quite-finished.’  But now, I can happily say that we are really, finally, DONE (and without fear that the universe is going to make me regret making such an announcement).

Let me start by showing you a layout of the house before we began the metamorphosis.

Before

The whole purpose of this project was to move Kenny’s father in with us. For a little while, we tossed around the idea of buying a totally new house for the three of us to live in. We wanted a split plan layout, with two master bedrooms on opposite sides of the house, all on one floor. Needless to say, this was practically impossible to find in an acceptable price range.

We finally decided it would make much more sense just to build onto our house, and we had the perfect spot to do it. Our backyard was plenty big enough to build Pops a huge master bedroom, with the entrance to his room right off the kitchen.  The kitchen was extremely small for this house to begin with, and Kenny and I had always wanted to expand it anyway.  So we went to work on redesigning the kitchen in a way that would allow Pops the easiest flow and access to his room.

We decided to enclose the patio, making the inside of the house bigger, and move the sink over 90 degrees, creating two wide paths for Pops to easily get through the kitchen. We also tore down the pantry which was right in the middle of everything, allowing us to put in an ‘island’ with lowered bar seating. Finally, we decided to knock down the wall between Kenny’s office and the living room to make a ‘Great Room’ that would give us enough space for a pool table. With the dining room in its new spot, Kenny moved his office into the former dining room area.

The final design ended up like this:

After

I can’t tell you what a difference this renovation has made to the house – the kitchen is enormous, and the house just feels so open, spacious, and relaxed. Here are some “Before” and “After” shots.

Pop’s wing from the outside:

Pops Room – Before and After

The patio:

Outside – (with my gorgeous niece Megan) Before and After

The Living Room:

The Living Room – Before and After

And FINALLY, The Kitchen:

The Kitchen – Before and After

I LOVE the new kitchen! Here is one more before:

Me and Kenny being photo-bombed by Trevor in our old, tiny kitchen

And some more after shots:

We LOVE the crown moldings on the cabinets

The new sink ‘island’

The wet bar area with built in wine fridge – of course

The New Dining Room

And finally, the reason we would go through all of this again and again without a second thought.

This Guy

All worth it

I know I owe everyone a BIG REVEAL – I’ll get to that soon, I promise. There have been a few glitches in the universe that have caused some delays. More on that later.

I love this song – but I really don’t like how they chant “Strange Attractor” at the beginning and the end. I’d love to cut off the chanting parts like the crusts on a sandwich – then, it would be perfect. That said, the rest of the song is absolutely brilliant, and totally makes up for the lame bookends.

Oh, and one more thing – I don’t recommend watching the official video for this song unless you have a stomach of steel. You’ve been warned.