Our Party was a HIT!

Bessie, my awesome next door neighbor, and I threw a joint Christmas party last night. It was soooooooooooooo much fun! I had appetizers at my place and she served desserts at hers. Between the 2 of us we probably had about 20 people, a perfect size get together. The food, friends and booze were all great. We were a bit nervous about how our friends would mesh, but everyone totally hit. OVerall...a SMASHING success!

PS: i forgot to take pics! oops

Sunday in Denver is C-O-L-D

Holla for 2 degrees! Yep, I went to the grocery store this afternoon and my car registed 2 degrees. And it wasnt lying. Tonight the low is going to be -19.

So needless to say I stayed my arse inside today. Got some great cooking down for our little Christmas party this Tuesday. My next door neighbor and I are throwing a joint holiday party. Appetizers at my house and desserts at hers, a little round the world if you will. Anywho, here's what I made today in preperation for Tues.

-Hummus (gotta have it, its a staple if you're middle eastern)
-California Pizza Kitchen's Spinach & Artichoke Dip (I have the SECRET recipe and may be willing to share this deliciousness with you...let me know!)
-an Olive Cheese ball
-meatballs (a barbeque and pineapple salsa based sauce)- yummy!
-Mac & Cheese mini-cupcakes (the recipe from jack's bridal shower- yay!)

Snowmobiling!

What a blast?! Jill and Josh were in town this weekend and while Josh and his friend went skiing...Jill and I went SNOWMOBILING. So much fun, SO MUCH FUN! I was a little apprehensive at first bc I had heard from a few friends out here about fatal snowmobiling accidents. So I definitely was a bit on the cautious side starting off, but after getting used to the machine and being out for 2 hours, I felt pretty confident by the end. It was a guided tour through the woods with a base of 5ft of snow. We climbed in elevation to heights of 12,500ft and at the top we were in white-out conditions bc the snow was coming down heavy. Had it not been for Jill's red helmet I would have had a hard time finding her in front of me. We went around lots of sharp curves on narrow passageways and on the straight-aways we were able to get our machines up and over 40 mph! It was nuts. Totally worth it. when ya'll come visit, we will definitely have to go!

Jill said it was more fun than skiing with less exertion :) So for those who don't like exercise, it's a pretty big thrill for plowing through snowcovered mtns.

BEST GRILLED CHEESE EVER!

Since we have a gourmet kitchen in our lodge (aka: office), I have been heating up/cooking up lunch rather than dining out. Well, that and the nearest food establishment is about 10 mins away by car. So, I have my coworkers hooked on my personal grilled cheese creation! Try it, you'll love it!

- Horseradish Mustard
- Vermont Extra Sharp Cheddar
- (Optional) Thinly sliced turkey

Spread the horseradish mustard on the bread, slice the cheese, then add the sliced turkey if you want. Broil in the oven until cheese it melted. It rocks.

Dallas for Turkey weekend

It had been a whole year since I saw my bro and his family. Skye, Dallas and Zoli had grown soooooo much! Handfuls as usual and even hellions at times (most times ;) but love them just the same! I need a vacation now though.

here are some highlights:

1) Dallas' funny sayings and guestures - ie: "I gotta have my SEX" - he had no idea what Sex even meant! And Zoli goes "Dallas that is only for mom and dad!"

2) Their hot water heater died on us all the first day we were all there...no showers, yuck!

3) DO NOT EVER PUT GOLD BOND in your HAIR! I learned this lesson. Since I couldnt bear to take a cold shower to wash my hair, I remembered an old remedy my friend Anastasia (Stacie) had told me. She said if my hair was ever oily and I didnt have time for a shower I could put Baby powder in my hair and its a quick fix for oily hair...and I've tried that once before and it worked. But do NOT ever substitue Gold Bond for baby powder. yea, nasty...my bro's nasty Gold Bond, I put in my hair. Not only did my scalp tingle, my hair got really stiff and grey looking, and I smelled like GOLD BOND for the next 3 days! Lesson learned.

4) Taking Zoli to get a manicure and pedicure and she had really bad gas. Lesson: Don't take a 4 yr old to the nail salon if they have bad gas bc they will FART on the manicurist. YES, she did and she goes "Hhahahaahaha...I farted!"

Deeny visits Sissy!

My little Deeny came to visit the weekend before Thanksgiving! We had our pre-thanksgiving together. Since she is a married lady now, she and Dean spent Turkey Day and weekend in NJ with Dean's family. The rest of the K family headed to Dallas, TX to be with my BIG brother and his family.



If you come to Denver, you MUST visit Boulder, CO. It's a yuppy little college town, more granola than Georgetown but set amongst the most beautiful Flatirons. The two of us LOVE Boulder and have been up there several times together but this past time we hit up the CELESTIAL SEASONINGS TEA FACTORY! So fun and every type of tea imaginable, plus you can buy them discounted for $2.25 a box. The tour is well worth it, you get to see how they store all the teas and spices and the boxing process AND you get to try any type of the 100s of tea they make. It's all made in Boulder, I had no idea.







We also hit up Vail and Breckenridge and skiied Breckenride of Sunday. I have conceded a loss or at least, I admit that I SUCK at skiing. I'm all about the GREEN slopes and guess what? I am ok and proud of that. The conditions werent perfect bc it was opening weekend BUT for us east-coasters, it wasnt that bad. But just yesterday they got hammered with snow...so ski season is in full effect now.


Sat night, Deena and I went out to the cutest little Cuban restaurant called, Cuba Cuba, with my friends Alina and Christina, and one of Christina's friends. It's in a little aqua colored house and has some of the best food and Mojito's! Afterwards, we went around the block to this Salsa club -- it was total immersion but all of us girls got to practice our dancing skills.

Such a fun weekend!

Deeny left me on Monday and on Wednesday I headed to Dallas!

Nashville, aka MUSIC CITY

What perfect timing! Despite crazy hours and lots of hard work, my work convention turned out awesome. This year, our annual convention and tradeshow coincidentally fell during the County Music Awards the same week in Nashville. I'm a newbie to country music but I've started to heart it the past couple of years. Can you imagine a better week to be in Nashville?

1) Our expo hall's loading dock gave us a prime view for Good Morning America's pre-warm up show with Miley Cyrus, Randy Atkins, and Kevin Costner (yep, the actor now singer).
2) We scored last minute tix to the show - 2 for the price of 1! $50 - although I hadnt planned on going to the CMA's I did try to doll up (after a 14 hour day). I wore a really cute black dress, my cute brown cowboy boots and a turquoise necklace
3) We were in the same room as all my favs...Josh Turner, George Strait, Randy Atkins, the EAGLES, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks & Dunn...ohh and Shania presented! Plus in the audience...Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, plus many more!