Skiing Taos

Ah, springtime! The freedom, the weather, the skiing!!! Adam and I have been lucky enough over the last 5 years to get the opportunity to ski every spring. Several times we've gone to Santa Fe, NM with our friends for the weekend, one year we did an Owens family ski trip to Wolf Creek, CO for the week, and this year it was a weekend with the O'Connells in Taos, NM. My parents and Ryan were there for the week, but time and budgets only gave us one weekend this year, and we planned to make it count!! As most of you know, for second Christmas my parents got Adam skis. This was all I heard about the entire week before our trip, as well as the entire drive! Lucky for him (and me) they did not disappoint! We got in late Friday night, and happily spent the time talking and hanging out with Ryan. Saturday we skied with Mom & Dad (Ryan's ankles were bothering him too much to ever hit the slopes with us, as he'd skied all week). One of the best thing about our week of skiing was that it had snowed 3ft right before we got there! POWDER!!! Hurray! We got up early Sunday to hit the slopes and have another great day....and I was completely sick an hour later. In fact, I was sick all day. I broke my own record, throwing up 8 times in the day. It was awful. I had never had altitude sickness before, and I don't recommend it to anyone. Ever. By Sunday night, I wasn't quite so sick, and we made the drive to Santa Fe. Ryan rode with us, which was fun, and we were treated to Pasquale's by my parents. If you are ever in Santa Fe, and looking for a good place to eat, go there!! They have one of the most creative chefs I've ever seen, and (bonus) serve only organic food. It's really awesome, and we try to go every time we're there. Sadly, we had to head back to Texas, and they had to get to their hotel, as they flew out in the morning, so we said our goodbyes. All in all, an awesome trip.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggidy Jig

*sigh* Our momentous roadtrip has brought us back home and left us exhausted! We had a wonderful time visiting my family and friends in DC and NYC, but are so happy to be back with our animal family and sleeping in our own cozy bed. We left on a Thursday night as one of the largest snow storms to sweep the nation was hitting. (We pride ourselves on our timing.) The trip that usually takes us about 22hrs ended up taking us 36. Yes, 36. All the while my Dad kept calling and saying "Where are you now? Well go ahead and stop, you're not going to make it any further!" We, ofcourse, did what we had planned all along. Now, for those of you all in a panic, we did check the National Weather Service regularly, and were in contact with Ryan alot, giving us weather updates. One of the funnier parts of the roadtrip was that in looking for a gas station I had accidently changed the gps path. So, we were about 30min outside Indianapolis and I was supposed to call my Dad when we got there. I closed my eyes for a "bit", woke up and asked Adam, "hey, do you know where we are?", he checked the gps path and just went "huh, look at that, we're in Kentucky." Oops!! Thank goodness he's so laidback, he just thought it was funny and we went along our way! By the time we actually got to my parents, we couldn't even get down their street. We parked at the top of the hill and walked, waist deep in snow, down their street with our suitcases on our heads. We were snowed into their house most of the time, a good excuse for games, movies, and 'second Christmas'. For Valentines weekend, and Ryan's 20th birthday, we made the 4hr drive up to NYC. We were able to visit with my Uncle's, meet his friend who is the makeup artist from Law & Order CI, see a dear friend of mine perform in West Side Story (AHH!!) and in enjoy NYC in general! It was a wonderful trip, and I'm always sad to see time with them end. I cried about 30min after we said goodbye, which is just ridiculous, particularly since I know I'll get to see them in March when we go skiing! Here is the link to our pictures....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175370&id=19505108&l=e7d1c1ed34

Road Trip

Well, wish us luck!!! We're heading out this evening and making the 22 hour drive to my parent's in DC. Should be fun except for one teeny tiny problem---there is an enormous blizzard schedule to hit tomorrow afternoon...while we're still driving. Bah! So, keep your fingers crossed and the prayers flowing that we make it and don't end up frozen in a ditch somewhere!

Moving

So, according to the (detailed) quiz I took at www.findyourspot.com we ought to be living in Seattle. Ha, fancy that. :) Our other top locations included; Denver, Hartford, Long Island and Providence...hmmm....I think this is a good sign, since these were all places we had thought of!!

Family, family, family

It has been forever since I've been able to spend time with my family. August to be exact---it's February, let me do the math for you, that's 7 months!!! This Thursday Adam and I will make the 22 hour drive (straight through mind you) to see them!!! Next weekend marks both Valentine's Day and Ryan's 20th birthday. I still can't believe he's officially in his 20s come the 14th, but I'm excited to be there to celebrate it with him!!! My time has recently been devoted to 'important' pre-trip things like, 1)making packing spreadsheets, 2)buying yummy goodies for the road, 3)visiting the library for good books on tape and comedian cds, 4)making killer playlists for the ipod, and 5)sending requests to my mother for different meals every few days....Like I said, the important stuff. For me, the most exciting part of this trip, aside from just seeing my family, is that we're spending a weekend in NYC!!! One of my heroes (and friends) growing up, an LSB dancer, is now in West Side Story as Tito---and I am going to get to see that!!!! For someone as in love with the arts a me, it does not get much better then that! :) Only 3 more days....I can make it!!!! T-H-R-E-E-M-O-R-E-D-A-Y-S!!!

Celebrity Twin

So, this week on facebook people are posting pictures of their celeb twin. Adam has always said I remind him of Rebecca Romijn Stemos (yea, I don't see it either) but there is a website that uploads a picture of you and compares your face to celebrities. My top two matches were Lauren Graham and Christie Brinkley. *shrug* What do you think?

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy

Worship, and God---for Me

So at church on Sunday I shared what worship and God mean to me, and I how experience that. It took me awhile to figure out just what I wanted to put, and how to word what I meant, and I still wasn't sure if I would be understood, or sound crazy. I was amazed afterwards when I was told by several people "I really could worship with it, after hearing you speak", or "I feel like I understand a whole new aspect of you now." It was incredibly encouraging, since I seldom share on this subject (unless prompted, like Sunday) because it isn't always well received. Here is what I shared:


When I’m listening to certain music, epic & pressing in some way after a few moments a feeling creeps into me that I can’t quite name. My chest tightens, I feel the urge to close my eyes, and I need to move. I can picture the movements, the perfect movements for that piece of music.

Sometimes it’s just the urge to dance that comes over me, without any music at all, a particular move my body wants to make, always accompjavascript:void(0)anied with the tightness in my chest & the urge to close my eyes. Watching performances with the specific type of music or dance has the same affect for me, often with tears.

For me, dancing has always been a very private and guarded thing. I either want to be alone, or somewhere “safe”, “removed” and “expected”, like rehearsal or a performance. Dancing I’m no longer myself, but this puppeted creature, moved about by the music and something that isn’t of this world. It’s how I was created to feel and express, to worship and be.

This clip may not strike you as particularly “epic” or “intense” but I love it because she possesses amazing grace and skill. She moves with the music in her rehearsal clothes in an empty auditorium, feeling everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz2Gp7a38DM