Happy New Year!

Jeremy and I were thrilled that we actually had plans for this New Year's Eve. Granted these plans required us to actually purchase some winter gear...boots, gloves, ski pants, hats, coats, etc. but it was worth every penny. We headed up to Silverthorne to spend the night with Bec and John at his ski house. We went tubing at Keystone then had great steaks at The Mint followed by some board games and champagne toast.


I highly recommend tubing at Keystone, aside from the covered moving walkway to get you back to the top, the hill was perfect to pick up some speed. We'll definitely be headed back up, besides we need to get our moneys worth on the new equipment!

New York, New York

Well, I can't believe it's been three weeks since the big trip to NYC. We had a FABULOUS time and were in for a HUGE surprise when we landed.

The drive to DIA was extremely nerve-wracking due to a good snowstorm that left the highway a parking lot. Mom was sitting in the front seat and seemed really nervous. So nervous she couldn't talk and was so worried we'd miss our flight. Well...the real reason for her concern was that she and Aunt Kay worked up quite the plan to surprise Bec and I. Aunt Kay flew into JFK 2-hours earlier than us and waited for us down at baggage claim. Imagine our surprise when Bec and I saw Aunt Kay patiently waiting for us to get our luggage. It was so fun to have the two sets of sisters together. My mom and Aunt Kay are so fun to be around, they had us laughing the whole trip. It's hard to say what the highlight was but I'd say it was seeing the Rockettes and our last dinner at La Bonne Soup!

Me, Mom, Aunt Kay & Bec

Times Square

Saks Fifth Avenue Dancing Snowflakes

Bloomingdales

Macy's Herald Square

Lord & Taylor

Top of the Empire State Building

Lunch at Thalia

I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank my mom for this Christmas gift. No words will describe how much I'll cherish these memories. I also know that we'll have to go to NYC again since we didn't see everything on our wish list. The fact that Aunt Kay was able to join us really put it over the top. Thank you Mom, it was better than I could imagined. Love you!

November, already?

I can't tell you what I did in October or the first part of November. Time needs to slow down and I'm definitely not ready for Christmas decorations or the new year. It's a mixed bag over here at Casa Ross. Here's something pretty to look at in November that would be a great centerpiece courtesy of Martha Stewart.

-I hate the weatherman's eager use of the word "upslope". But at least this morning Jeremy and I could work together in shoveling the driveway in record time. And, I'm glad the snow fell on a weekend and not Monday morning. Jeremy rewarded me with a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha - yummy!

-I actually did some scrapbooking yesterday; haven't done that in years. I was able to finish our vacation photos from 2003 and 2005. (I'm a little late on this stuff but at least I made some progress.)

-I'm trying to find a good purse to use in New York. It has to work well while we walk or take the subway, it must fit over my coat and it has to be one I'll use again. (Jeremy doesn't understand this but I think I've narrowed it down to a few choices. Hopefully there are some good sales around Thanksgiving to give me a break on price.)

-I'm making a large pot of sauce for dinner so we can try out the sausage from the hog Jeremy bought. (The half a hog has been his best purchase in a long time. We had some bacon for breakfast and it's incredible - little fat and great flavor!)

-I have some knitting projects to finish up in these next few weeks, so a few more snow days will help further this endeavor along.

-I'm looking forward to seeing The Blind Side with Jeremy for our Friday date.

-Finally, the BIG news for the house. I'm now in my pre-certification phase for becoming a full-fledged pilates instructor. This is exciting and scary at the same time. It's been some mixed emotions but has me so eager to finish my certification this summer. Not a full-fledged career change but it is something that has me rejuvenated.

Have a good week, start planning those Thanksgiving dinners and remember to stock your neighborhood food bank! (We'll be making our donation to Jeffco Action Center.)

A Must Post

Disclaimer: I have to post this so I don't forget 2 months or even 2 weeks from now when the snow falls again the pain of shoveling a driveway.

Last week was the first big storm of the season, a good dumping of 2' in 48 hours. What's a girl to do while her husband is in Florida? I'll tell you:

I took the truck to work at 5 AM on Wednesday to miss the traffic then hightailed it home at 3 that afternoon. I had every intention of shoveling the driveway, which is the longest on the block, Wednesday afternoon/evening. After working for an hour it was apparent that it was a futile effort and simply not worth my time. So, by the grace of a very sweet neighbor, my driveway received a quick visit from the snow blower. I thought to myself at midnight, this is great, I can get up early Thursday and head into the office. (After all, I have two conference calls and I have to get to Jeremy at DIA Thursday night.) The plan sounded good in my head but didn't take into account that the snow kept falling and the City snowplow came up the street and boxed in the driveways. So Thursday morning at 5 AM it became very apparent that I'd be working from home and putting in a serious workout to clear the driveway. I couldn't tell the difference between the lawn and driveway and it was a long ways out to the street from the cul-de-sac. So after my calls I got to work at 11:30 AM shoveling. 3 HOURS LATER AND IT WAS COMPLETELY CLEAR!

A shot I sent Jeremy at 5 AM

The accumulation by 3 PM Wednesday.

After 30 minutes of shoveling on Wednesday - I gave up shortly after this shot!

It wasn't worth the effort, I couldn't keep up with the falling snow.

I love the snow drifts we get off of the front porch - they are gorgeous at night.

1-hour into my Thursday shoveling efforts.

3-HOURS LATER AND IT'S DONE!

I successfully had a clear driveway at 3:30 Thursday and was ready to head to DIA to retrieve the hubby. The drive out there was not fun (took 2-hours) and in the process of changing seats with Jeremy I lost my work phone in a snow bank. Big oops! After I realized it was at the airport we were too far into the drive home to turn around.

I was thrilled to see the snow melted on Friday from the street but I sure felt jilted from my efforts. Next time, I'm just going to wait for the snow to melt.

Baking Lady - Shortbread

-Photo from My Recipes-

Goodness it was a cold weekend. Not much good came from the cold temperatures other than forcing me inside. I had a craving for shortbread after having the best I've tasted at Katy's wedding. So I compared all of my recipes and decided on the one in my latest Southern Living issue. The shortbread turned out amazing - a definite keeper. Here's the recipe:


Simple Scotch Shortbread
Bake at 350 degrees, 30-35 min.
2 C butter or margarine, softened
1 C sugar
4 C all-purpose flour
2 T sugar, optional

Cream butter and gradually add the sugar. Cream well. Add the flour and blend until you get a nice ball. Press into a 14x10 jelly pan. Prick the shortbread as necessary and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle the shortbread with 2 T. sugar as desired. Immediately cut into bars and store in an air tight container.

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!!!!!!

Read for yourself, a record low and a record high low. This is the earliest I've ever had to pull out the Uggs to keep the feet warm. Good thing we didn't plan on going the the CSU-Utah game or the Rockies playoff game!

9NEWS.com Colorado's Online News Leader Record cold for third day in a row