Official Coloradians!

By the way, we are now official Coloradians - no more New Jersey. We finally got Colorado plates on our car! Woohooo!

Ski Time!

Opening day for the Ski Resort was Thanksgiving Day. We finally got some more snow last week (about 2 feet) and it's a blizzard today! Took some ski runs today and the powder was awesome but the visibility was not very good so we're back home, snuggled up and getting ready to decorate our Christmas tree.

New York

Last weekend, I flew back to NYC for girls' weekend with Mom, Ange, Rosie, Amy & Aunt Theresa. We had a blast! One of the highlights was hitting a designer jean sample sale. Even Rosie bought jeans! Our weekend in the city included a fabulous stay at the Omni Berskshire Hotel, shopping, checking out Macy's & Nordstorm's windows, the tree in Rockefeller Center, scrumptious dinners and a play. We saw Ragtime, which is absolutely outstanding -highly recommend. It was great to be with everyone and just enjoy each other's company and the city. When everyone left on Sunday, Aunt Theresa & I went to see Avenue Q. Hilarious! Super inappropriate and raunchy but LOL funny. Then we did a little more shopping at Bloomie's and ended the weekend with a yummy pizza dinner. I'm glad to have this tradition and hope we can continue it for years to come!

Back East!

On November 7th - 14th I traveled back east for a whirlwind east coast tour. Even though I spent half the time in a car, I was able to see as much family as possible in 7 days. Hopefully, the next visit will be longer. The first stop was New York City with Mom and Dad for some shopping, good food, and the Jersey Boys on Broadway! If you are from Jersey, this is a play you must see, proving that something good can come out of Jersey. :)

My second stop was a visit to see Jeff and Michelle, who are expecting a baby boy (Jeffrey) this winter. I hung out with Jeff and his dog, Maverick (Stella's twin brother, so it seems). They have a beautiful house in Sparta and it was great seeing Jeff and Michelle after a year.

The third stop was a tour of South Jersey to see my grandma, Oma. We continued on to visit my cousin Anthony at Monmouth and my cousin Danielle's apartment. The following day my Mom and I left for Saratoga, NY where my sister, Melissa lives. We stayed over night and toured the beautiful, upstate NY town of Saratoga. Good food, good coffee, nice hiking... I approve!

We came back from Saratoga to see Noni and Pop-pop and commute with them to North Bergen for the day. The last night was spent going out with my mom and dad to enjoy my last good italian meal before flying back home to Telluride, CO. It was a whirlwind tour but it was worth it and terrific seeing everyone!

Snow Day!

The snowstorm hit Friday, pounding us all day and then into yesterday. It took a break this morning but is supposed to start again later. So far, we probably have about 2 feet and town looks like a winter wonderland! Stella played with her friend Guiness yesterday and today, Jared and I took her out to enjoy some family time in the snow.

Marley Concert in Aspen

For our anniversary, we went to Aspen for Julian & Stephen Marleys' concert at BellyUp. It was awesome!
If you don't know, Julian & Stephen are two of Bob Marley's sons. Julian has a new album out - Awake. Most of the songs performed were from this album. He also performed some of Bob's songs, including my favorite, 'Could you be loved', with his brother. Unbelievable!
BellyUp is a small venue in downtown Aspen and the crowd was about 200 people dancing up a storm. There were a lot of fun costumes and some crazy people.
Aspen is a great town - larger than Telluride. Some think it's too snooty but I think it reminds me a little of State College, with a local college, lots of apartments and dive & sport bars. The weather was gorgeous, in the 60s probably. We did some shopping (normal shopping at stores like the Gap) and watched the PSU game at a bar called Zane's. Our waitress was a fellow alumnus, recently graduating this past May. One of the owners of the bar is from Jersey and a huge Philly sports fan. Felt like we were back East.
(Recommendation on the videos - let the video load, then listen to it. Hit play and then pause. A little red bar will appear in the play bar, it means the video is loading; when it's done, hit play and enjoy!)

Away We Go

Our new favorite movie is Away We Go starring John Krasinski (from The Office) & Maya Rudolph (from Saturday Night Live). It's hilarious!
Synopsis:
A couple who is expecting their first child travel around the U.S. in order to find a perfect place to start their family. Along the way, they have misadventures and find fresh connections with an assortment of relatives and old friends who just might help them discover "home" on their own terms for the first time.
My personal favorite was Maggie Gyllenhaal's character and scene, showing an crazy take on raising kids.
We give this movie 5 stars, 2 thumbs up and lots of laughs - add it to your netflix list!

Nicol & Cory visited!

So back in July, Cory and Nicol came to visit! We had a blast - rode the Gondola, explored town, played the Wii, let Cory eat bacon and hiked Bear Creek.
Since then, Nicol has been bugging me & Jared for her post on the blog because we started the blog after they came to visit. It's a little late but here goes:

Pumpkin carving2

Pumpkin carving, eating fondue and yummy, gluten free cupcakes and relaxing in the hot tub while lots of snowflakes danced on our head. Jared was adventurous and decided to make a snow angel in his bathing suit! Thanks for the photos, Kate.

Pumpkin carving

Our pumpkins that we carved from Jim's pumpkin carving party. More photos to come . . .
Happy Halloween :)

PSU stomps Michigan

Woohoo - way to go Lions! 35-10 over the stupid Wolverines.

We had a lot of fun with Sister in town (see some of the photos below). Luckily, she arrived in time to ride the Gondola before it closed for off season. Some highlights - going to Moab and hiking in Arches National Park; Wii nights; home cooked dinners; carving a pumpkin and watching scary movies; Stella hanging out with her aunt Angela; Orvis hot springs; hiking Bear Creek; delicious dinner at Cosmo's and finally, hanging out with Kate & Dave at the Buck. Thanks for visiting Sister! We miss you. Ryan - you better come next time.

Angela Comes to Visit!

Ange came into town for the week from New Jersey. The sisters got to hang out in Telluride!
We started our first day in Moab, UT before having Ange settle into Telluride. We took a break and went to the Orvis hot springs in Ouray, CO for some much needed relaxation. Here are some pictures from Ange's visit.

First Snow

We woke up this morning and there was snow on the ground and trees. Yesterday, it was sunny and 60 degrees so we definitely didn't expect snow. Here comes winter!

She's so cute!

Visiting the Christner Family!

We had so much fun with Erin, Josh, Jaylise, Daemon, and Violet(who will be arriving soon), oh and of course Munkey the dog! This weekend we visited the Christner family in Bayfield, near Durango. Erin is my childhood friend from Sparta, NJ. We were on the local waterski team together on Lake Mohawk and now we just happen to live 2 hours away in COLORADO. It's awesome! As you can tell from the photos below, Erin and Josh have adorable kids! Jaylise is talking up a storm and Daemon has quite an appetite. Their third, Violet, will be arriving in December!!! Below are some photos we took during our visit.

Blues and Brews 2009!!!

Blues and Brews Festival 2009 in Telluride! Here are some videos just to give you a taste of some of the Legends that played this year. This first video clip is Joe Cocker singing. I couldn't get too close so the picture will be a bit fuzzy. (Joe, a colorado local, is pretty amazing at 65 years young!)



Bonnie Raitt closed on Sunday night with Taj Mahal. Below is a video I took of Bonnie singing "Thing Called Love". I was in the front row!



One of the between artists was 8 year old, Jaden Carlsen, who amazed the crowds with a couple songs she wrote. The guitar is bigger than her!!!



You can view a slideshow below of the entire weekend. What you won't see is that I woke up every morning at 6:30am to get a spot in line to ensure I was one of the first in line for the "Run of the Tarps". For those of you that don't know what that is picture the great land rush, but instead of staking out thousands of acres in the new world... the most hardcore festival-goers all sprint full speed with tarps in hand to claim there 10 foot by 8 foot piece of sod to enjoy the festival. To paint the picture even clearer... a festival goer (65 year old man) I thought I had made friends with after waiting in line for 3 hours with him, sharing beers & stories - trampled me as soon as the whistle blew!!! Lesson: There are no friends in the "Run of the Tarps".

Film Fest

Main Street banner.



Helen Murin announcing her movie "The Last Station" about Leo Tolstoy at the Telluride Film Festival. There were many amazing movies premiered this year... as usual. Some of my favorites were "Up in the Air"with George Clooney and "The Bad Leuitenant" with Nicholas Cage.


Director of "The Bad Leutenant" interview.

Way to go PSU!

Opening game against Akron. Played pretty well overall - defense looked kick ass; offense was still trying to find their groove. New backup qb looked good for the 1 min he played and our new receivers had some great catches. I think we'll have a great season and I'm so excited with my new direct tv! I love having all the football channels and the score guide button on the remote! Let's go State!
Final - PSU 31 - Akron 7

Film Fest

Film Festival in Telluride is here! Going to a few movies, mostly the free ones in the park . . . but our main goal is star watching! So far, we've seen Laura Linney (she lives here though), Helen Mirren (gorgeous in person) and Fred Ward (Earl Smooter in Sweet Home Alabama). Rumors that George Clooney, Nicholas Cage, Viggo Mortensen & Salmya Hayek are here but we haven't see them yet. Keep you posted!

Stella is ready for football season!

Since she is a member of our family, Stella is officially a Penn State fan! We're all ready for game day tomorrow and every Saturday until the end of Nov. For a very early birthday present, Jared bought me DirectTV with all the college football channels including the Big Ten network! Next to a pair of Manolos, this is the best birthday present ever!

Blue Lake Hike (3.5 hours)

This is a post for a hike to Blue Lake from Telluride with some friends back on July 5th. This was my last big hike with Sandy and Steve before they moved to Alaska! Stella and their dog Mako had a lot of fun especially once we got to the lake. This hike takes about 3.5 hours round trip from the top of Bridal Veil Falls and we spent about 30 minutes at the top soaking up the views making the total trip 4 hours. A beautiful hike with about 2,ooo feet of elevation gain and 5.25 miles long.

Crested Butte Weekend Camping Trip

Jared & I decided yesterday to head to Crested Butte for the weekend. Left stormy clouds in Telluride around 2 pm and arrived to sunny warm weather in the Butte around 5. It's a cute town - similar to Telluride. We ate at the Secret Stash and had an awesome pizza! After dinner, we headed to a free campground (near the Oh Be Joyful trail) outside of town on the river (which Stella loved). We all snuggled in the tent, enjoying our first family camping experience. Ate breakfast the next morning while we packed up and headed to Mt Crested Butte - similar to Mtn Village. Headed back to downtown Crested Butte and enjoyed coffee at Camp 4 Coffee and then found a car show on main street followed by a farmer's market. Woohoo! Fun spur of the moment trip. Stella was a little overwhelmed and slept the whole way home. So did I but that's no surprise :)

Navajo Lake Overnight

Dave & I started out in the morning on Kilpacker Trail in the Lizardhead Wilderness Area. Our goal was to go hike 2 of the 3 fourteeners near the Navajo Lake Basin. What we soon learned was that carrying 50 lb packs with you quickly decreases the distance you can hike in one day. We still completed over 10 miles on the first day before camping, but decided against the climb of Mt Wilson. We headed back to the Kilpacker Trailhead the next day. We will figure out how to pack lighter and attempt some 14,000 foot peaks soon.

Hope Lake Trail - 3 Hour R/T

After a 20 minute drive up Hope Lake Road from Trout Lake we arrive at the Hope Lake Trail Head. Jess and Stella lead the way... as usual.




After traveling through an Evergreen forest we come to our first river crossing. Jess and Stella handle the cold water well!


After about 40 minutes of hiking and crossing Rock-Slide Pass we come to our first clearing looking out over San Miguel Peak which stands at 13,752 feet tall!!




Jess and Stella are eager to keep moving up the many switchbacks to about 12,000 feet where Hope Lake is waiting at the finish. As we climb the switch backs we noticed some steeper sections that will be usful shortcuts for our trip down.




We reach the home stretch climbing up an open meadow of wildflowers right below Hope Lake. We run in to some hikers along the way and can't resist to have them take our picture over looking Trout Lake below. (the start of our hike)



We made it!!! This beautiful lake is our finish line (actually halfway since we do have to hike back down to our car) and looks so inviting. After a long hike in the sun you do feel like jumping in for a refreshing dip, but watch out because the water temp is about 45 degrees!!




I can't resist a quick dip. I think I may be able to join the Polar Bear Club after this!

Silver Lake Hike - 5 hours

Silver Lake

We start our hike by climbing up from Bridal Veil Falls at the end of town. The view is amazing once you get up to the top of the waterfall, but this is only the beginning of the hike.




From the private residence on top of Bridal View Falls we hiked East into Bridal Veil Basin crossing the river and headed South up to the top of Ballard Mountain.



We cross more waterfalls and streams climbing up the steep terrain. Stella stops at every stream for a drink along the way.

We came out into a clearing which was the final leg of our hike... soon Stella would be swimming!

Another beautiful hike in Telluride!