Welp friends, I'm back to the real world today. My vacation with Scott was wonderful, but I'm happy to be getting back into the swing of things. Starting now!
We ended up getting back a day earlier than planned, but I didn't mind too much. I love vacations, but I'm a huge homebody! I was happy to get back, get the house in order and take down our Christmas decorations. Our house is so bare now!! But nice and clean, which I am a fan of...
Now, let the vacation recapping begin!
Saturday: We drove from Austin to Angel Fire and ended up arriving around 8pm. We warmed up the condo, ordered pizza and watched Pitch Perfect. That movie is hilarious!
Sunday: Our first ski day! We drove into Taos(about an hour from AF) to take some lessons. Scott takes a specialty lesson only offered on Sundays, so I took a private two hour lesson while he was out. I love getting instructors there because they really know what they are talking about! Plus it's always good to get a refresher on your first day skiing. Although it was freezing, like in the teens freezing, I still managed to have a good time! It was quite beautiful!
Monday(New Years Eve): We drove into Taos, except it was a bit different than Sunday! It was a freakin blizzard outside! We saw that it was going to snow, but we I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. We could barely see the road when we were driving in. It was definitely the most snow I've ever seen or skied in.
When we got back to our truck to head home, this is what we found! Snow up to my knees!! Craziness!
We eventually got out of there and had a very slow drive home. If you curious as to what we did for New Years, well we laid on the couch in our robes and watched TV until 11... We figured we'd celebrate central times zone New Years Eve. That counts right? We were so wiped from skiing in a blizzard! Tuesday(New Years Day): We celebrated a year of Engagement! I blogged about that here. I talked about the start of our chili and champagne tradition.
I decided I needed to take a break from skiing, so I stayed in and Scott went skiing in AF for a few hours. When he got back, I suited up and got ready for some sledding action! I have never been before and have always wanted to try it. We walked around for a bit, trying to find the best hill. We saw some paths that some other people had made and tried them out. Watch for yourself to see how our sledding adventure worked out!
Pretty freakin funny, right?!?! annnnnnd here are some stills for your enjoyment!
So many great times and memories... Wednesday: We stayed in AF to ski, and ah I was in heaven! I love skiing there! Ok, so the snow might not be as awesome as Taos, but I just feel much more confident there. It's less competitive, not as steep and just a wee bit warmer, like 20 degrees :). I got this really beautiful picture of some snow fluffed trees. Aren't they awesome!
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful! Lots of relaxing, talking, eating, and watching TV. I wouldn't have had it any other way. :)
Happy New Year everyone! While most of you will be celebrating the new year, I will be celebrating one year of engagement!
Last year we went skiing and were here for New Years. We were cooking dinner(chili) and getting ready for our drive home the next morning. Before we sat down to eat, Scott popped the question! We drank at least two bottles of champagne and ate our chili dinner. We told ourselves that we should make it a tradition to eat chili and drink champagne on New Years day from now on. SO we are sticking to our word, and cooking chili tonight and drinking champagne. I love this tradition, as weird as it sounds!
We are still in Angel Fire, skiing our little butts off. Yesterday it was 19 degrees and it snowed all day long. This Texas girl can't really hang in those conditions. I made 3 runs and called it a day.
Today I'm taking it easy, while Scott hits the slopes. We got to sleep in a little bit, ate cinnamon rolls, and now I'm just catching up with the online world. Later, we might go tubing, and sneak into the resort for some hot tub action!
2012 has been such a wonderful year, I wanted to recap some fun things that have happened.
2013 came faster than we could have imagined but I couldn't be more excited to become a wife this year. Also, I'm not one to make new years resolutions, but I do plan on continuing to live simply and try to live in the moment more. This is going to be a great year!
We've decided to take off for the New Year...It seems as if that's becoming the norm around this time of year.
Ever since dating Scott, I have become a huge fan of skiing. We went on our first ski trip together March of 2011. Since then we've gone two more times.
March 2011-Spring Break-Angel Fire
December 2011/January 2012-Angel Fire
March 2013-Spring Break-Angel Fire
After going back and forth on plans for skiing, we finally bit the bullet and decided to go! I can't wait to get back on the mountain. We're planning on skiing in Angel Fire, where the condo is, and Taos. We might even try skiing in wolf creek one of those days... We shall see! I plan on updating the blog while I'm away, so stay turned!
After a week of recovery, I finally found time to share how my east coast trip went. We have been going nonstop since we got back last Monday and just now found time to update blog world.
I had such a great time visiting Scott's family and meeting more of his relatives. Our first stop was Greenwich, CT. I knew right away that I'd fit in with the Hamiltons. His Aunts and Uncle were so welcoming, I felt right at home. I got to meet his cousins and new nieces too! I think my pictures will give you a better representation of how my trip went...
Aunt Emily's house where we stayed during our time in CT.
hydrangeas are grown everywhere there. so pretty!
Milo, Scott's dad, and his two sisters Helen and Emily
We ferried over to a little island off the coast of Connecticut. I attempted to swim, it was freezing!
Scott and my future FIL
Delicious dinner with the whole family!
rode the train into NYC! First timer!
My first time at Grand Central!
I met up with my friend Sam, who recently moved to NYC! So fun!
Yes, this happened and it was delicious!
Brunch at the Boat House in central park! AMAZING!
My friend over at NY State of mind recommended we tour Chelsea Market. Really neat place!
...just like a kid in a candy shop... Economy Candy. Place was insane! Candy stacked to the very top of the ceiling. If you know me and candy, then you know I was in heaven haha
Sorry for the photo overload, I just couldn't help myself!
We had a great vacation. I had a lot of first timers. Like riding the subway, visiting local bars, seeing central park, riding the train, seeing grand central station and more! I have bittersweet feelings towards NYC. I don't like how it's so dirty, and can be really touristy, but there are so many other things that make it worth it. I love how diverse it is, and the energy the city gives off. I just like it in small doses :)
Scott and I conversing via emoji. We're weird, I know.
I posted this on instagram yesterday to see if anyone could figure out where we are off too...if you guessed NYC, ding ding ding! You are correct!
But first we're heading to Greenwich, CT to meet some of Scott's extended family. This is my first time vacationing to Connecticut, so I'm super pumped about seeing the houses and their neighborhood. Supposedly Elisabeth Hasselbeck just moved down the street from his aunt so I'm looking forward to stalking seeing her house! I'll be sure to take pictures!
Our trip goes like this:
-plane leaves at 6:15a.m.(what were we thinking), ____, ____.
-____, ____celebrate Aunt Helen's Birthday Friday
-take train in to NYC early Saturday morning. Central park, shop, dinner, drinks with a friend, _____, _____ etc.
-head back to CT Sunday afternoon, ____, ____.
-come back to ATX Monday
Short and sweet!
Anyone have an suggestions on places to dine, things to see/do to fill in the blanks? We've done the touristy thing, so we're looking to go to venture out to cool local places.
Yesterday at work, my office held a potluck with the theme of a "stay-cation". Which meant people could dress in a "what you'd be wearing on vacation" outfit for the day and bring in a dish to share. Since we some of us dress nice on a daily basis, we took advantage of wearing more relaxed clothes like shorts, jeans, or a flow-y dress.
I dressed as if I were hiking, like when we were in New Mexico, for the stay-cation. It was the best excuse to come into work in my most comfortable clothes. Pretty awesome, right?!
They had a HUGE spread of food from dips, pasta salad, wings, pizza, cakes and my favorite, SNO CONES!
I was a happy girl! Definitely a fun way to break up the work week.
After about two hours of catching up on blogs, I'm finally able to write one of my own. I actually have been missing this world while I was on vacation, but I'm back and ready for action. OH, and a very unfortunate event happened, my computer screen won't turn on. Anyone else have that problem?? For the time being, Scott is lending me his MacBook, which is taking a lot of getting used to.
I want to tell you all about my trip! If you didn't know, Scott and I went out for a mini vacation over the weekend to New Mexico. We stayed in between Albuquerque and Santa Fe... I think. We really were in the middle of no where, which is the best part about it!
The view out there was incredible!
We spent a lot of our time out by the pool reading and getting too much sun. I brought home a sunburn and a burnt scalp, ouch! My darn permipart! There were three pools there, one for relaxing, a family pool that included a slide that we definitely went down 10 times, and a baby pool. If you can guess, we didn't spend anytime at the baby pool.
While we were in New Mexico, we ate sooo much food! But, we were on vacation. That's a valid excuse, right?! Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the delicious food, but we ate REALLY good. From breakfast buffets, to steak dinners. I was pretty much done with eating towards the end of the trip and stuck with salads.
We were also were able to take a hike up Sandia Mountain. Boy, was I in for a surprise. OK, my definition of hiking is walking on a flat trail through some trees. Scott's idea of hiking is much different then mine which I soon found out.
We were just starting, and I could feel the sun starting to warm up. It was around 9:30 and I was feeling good. Fortunately, weather in NM is better than in Texas. You can actually sweat there and it evaporates because there is like zero humidity. It's GREAT! The temperature was still hot, and you become out of breath quickly especially when you're hiking at an elevation your not used to...
But the view was worth it!!!
Here are some videos we shot on the way up. Sorry, they are shot with my iPhone and I always seem to cover up the microphone when I'm shooting a video, so the sound may be muffled a little bit.
This is Scott's video that he wanted to share...
So, I was not prepared for this, but I'm so glad we went. It was such a beautiful view and such an accomplishment to see how far we went. I was not expecting the trail to be as steep as it was. We ran into a lot of people on the trail that morning, it was a popular spot. Oh and btw, we hiked about 5.5 miles, not 10 ;)
And for the results....
...snack time :)
The hike down took half the time and we were basically running down. There were a few cuss words said, and some slip scares, but we managed to make it down with out hurting ourselves or falling down.
I was sore for three days after the hike, it really worked me. My soreness made me feel less guilty about eating my body weight in breakfast that morning ;)
Look at Scott's cute parents. We got to spend a lot of time with them, they are a HOOT!!! So much fun! I'm very blessed to be a part of their family. That night we wandered around the resort, ventured off to hopefully crash a wedding,(the guys didn't let us), then headed home to pass out. (that was the same day we hiked, I was pooped!)
Our last night we spent with Milo's business partner and his family and traveled to Santa Fe for dinner. Wow, that city was amazing. It has so much character and scenery. I really enjoyed myself there, especially the company!! We eventually made it back to the resort to prepare for our departure the next morning.
This vacation was just what I needed! So much love, good times and relaxation!
Peace friends!!
*Brooke*
p.s. Sorry for such a long post, I've been out of the loop for a while!!!
