xmas 09

Went to whole foods at lunch on xmas eve to pick up 5 pounds of mussels for steph's dinner - it was absolute bedlam but I was able to stealth checkout at the custy service desk. Was able to leave work shortly thereafter since it was pretty dead. Had the fam over for a nice dinner with the mussels & homemade frites.







After dinner, Steph & I cleaned up a bit then opened some of our gifts to each other - highlights include homebrew equipment and this slick new rain parka.



For xmas day proper, the clan reconvened over at hillside for breakfast & more presents - some highlights include the new wii system, games, shirts & sweaters, and a vintage broncos pom pom hat. Soon it was time for the best part of the day - our traditional salmon/onion/caper/lettuce plates for the guys meticulously prepared by Paul. Later on, we had a nice ham dinner.



Saturday steph & I braved the hordes and ran errands, ending up the mall to exchange a couple of items and have some lunch at wahoo's. The rest of the weekend was pretty much spent playing wii.

merry xmas

tree trimming

Wednesday was my company's holiday party at John's in boulder. It was a pretty fancy multi-course dinner. I had buffalo sirloin strip, and steph got the ahi/scallop plate. Friday, steph visited her sister's new baby, I fixed the screen door, then we took it easy and watched The Rocker, planning on riding in the a.m. But when morning rolled around, we were not quite as motivated. So we got some errands and such done. I went for a jog in my new winter running sweats, later we watched the Doors movie, and called it an early night so we could ride sunday. Which we did, up at Keystone. We started off on the North Peak and the snow was hard and icey, then we pretty much rode under the Montezuma lift on Bachelor the rest of the day. Sure we were trimming trees a bit, but there were some nice bumps to play on.

holiday part-ays

Friday after work, I headed to campus to meet up with steph for the dean's holiday party. The food spread was better this year and they had Jubilations. We mingled until about 8-ish then headed home.

Armed with a fresh set of contacts, we headed up to Breck. The snow was decent considering the mountains haven't seen much accumulation. Rode rugs the whole time - no expert terrain was open. Hit the road half-day so we could get ready for our next holiday party. Met up at the nook later that evening, called a cab and joined the crew at Keith & Cheri's for a festive celebration in the newly finished man-cave. Post party we watched a remastered version of Labyrinth.

Sunday while Steph studied for her final, I went over to hillside to decorate the tree with the fam. On the way home, I picked up some Proto's for dinner.

eyeballs

The temperature had been freezing all week so we chilled out and ordered a pizza on friday. Woke up bright and early saturday morning for our first time to the slopes this season, only to find out that my last pair of contacts (leftover from last season) where pretty much f-ed. I huffed and I puffed then I went back to sleep.

It was still bitter cold and a bit snowy, so we did what every other person was doing to get ready for xmas - headed to the mall to do a bit of shopping. I made an appointment at lenscrafters for the next morning, then had a nice dinner at Buca.

Sunday we went back to the mall so I could get fitted for new contacts, then we started decorating the house a bit. Casual city.