Hooked on Alias

Can I tell you how addicted Ashlee and I are to Alias? We've been watching Season 1 on DVD for the past couple months... and tonight we started Season 2. We love that show. Afterall, it is how we bonded... watching that show. :)

Winter Weekend Adventure

This weekend was it! My winter weekend adventure with good friends, fabulous cabins and loads of SNOW!!

I tried snowmobiling for the first time. I rode with John on a snowmobile and boy was I glad because he had been snowmobiling before and the first thing we had to do was inch down a steep hill and then immediately cross a river on a snow bridge that was only as wide as the snowmobile! And then we took off a long ways to a meadow where the guide told us to each take a turn singly on the snowmobiles and go have some fun. While John was off riding, the guide grabbed me and took me for a ride to show me what a snowmobile was really caple of! Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I sat in the front and held onto the middle of the handle bars while he stood behind me and drove up a steep hill into the fresh powder and did all these quick turns where we dug into the snow really deep and then he even took me over some jumps. I screamed every time we jumped. Wow. Snowmobiling is scary! We had a couple girls get hurt when their snowmobiles fell into a tree - one of the snowmobiles was really jacked up. I felt bad about that - they were really shaken up.

Jed, Jen and I kicked the weekend off with a little skiing at Park City. The snow was pretty good and we had a lot of fun. We found some sweet moguls under the McConkey's lift.

I also had some fun snow shoeing with Katie and trying to get the boys in the snow! When will they ever learn that it is so much more fun to just let us girls take them down in the snow?? Cuz, inevitably, we have to go down with them to get them. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Valentine's Tulips

A True Adventure of SkierJess

Tonight started out innocent enough... Lindsey and I headed up to Julia and Casey's wedding reception in Salt Lake City. We were in a big hurry because Lindsey needed to be back to work by 7:30 or 8:00 pm and since the reception started at 6:30 and it was about a 45- to 60-minute drive to SLC, we really had to hurry. So we got up there. Saw the beautiful bride (and groom), stayed long enough to eat some cheesecake and ran out the door.

We gabbed the whole time we were driving... and then it happened. Right around Lehi. I heard a thumping noise coming from my car. So I started to slow down and start moving toward the far right lane. Then the thumping got louder! But there was no shoulder to pull off on to. And that is when I realized I had a flat tire!! So I put on my hazards and kept driving until there was enough shoulder to pull safely off the freeway.

Sure enough. We had a flat tire. And we were in dresses!! But!! I'm a girl scout and my dad taught me how to change a tire so the dress wasn't going to stop me. I would just put my gloves on and lay a blanket down on the ground so I wouldn't get dirty.

So I pulled out the spare tire - felt like there was air in it - check. Pull out the star wrench lug nut remover thing - check check. Jack. Jack. Oh! in the side compartment - remove the door. There it is! Yank. Pull. Squeeze + Pull. Can't budge it. So I had Lindsey try. And we're both back there in short (well, knee-length) skirts and we're sure the wind is blowing our skirts up and the cars are getting a little show as they drive by. We're freezing, we can't get the jack out and we're laughing. Hysterically. So we can't think straight. Call Jed. He's on his way. Nice, Good Samaritan man stops to help. He gets the jack out in a jiffy. Turns out you just have to turn the knob to loosen it. Oh brother. The cold and the laughing was definitely affecting our logical thinking. We call Jed and tell him not to worry - a nice man stopped to help us.

Oh and Lindsey's feet were freezing. Check out the sexy red socks I had in my emergency tub that she put on!!

And then we found out that the jack would have been the least of our worries. After getting the lug nuts off, the nice man couldn't get the tire off! He tried and tried and I'm thinking who do I know that is good with cars and owns a Honda - cuz maybe Hondas are weird about having their tires removed. David! Called David. He's on his way. Then Jed calls Lindsey back and says he is still on his way, but where are we? About that time, the nice man had had it and got under the car and hit the back of my tire with the jack's lug nut remover slash jack raising bar. And that worked!! So he got the spare tire on and the flat tire in the back and I was good to go! Although not over 50 mph. Dang. I hate that.

Jed arrived by that time and the spare was looking a little low so he followed me to the gas station and filled it up. And then he followed me to Lindsey's work and then to my house.

And now..... I am sitting safely home, in my bed, writing this blog. :)

Yay for Snow Shoeing!!

Totally went snow shoeing tonight. You already know how much I loooooooove snow shoeing so I won't bore you with that. But here are the pics! Enjoy.

My Ultimate Favorite Blog Design

So. Check. It. Out.

My darling friend, Ashlee, designed this beautiful blog for me. For me. I love, love, love it. She does this for a living. Do you like it? Do you like her work? Know of a sweet, awesome job for her?? Preferably in Seattle. That way she can move there with me. :)

Seattle Scoutin'

I went to Seattle again this past weekend. I saw some sweet fares for $123 roundtrip to Seattle from Salt Lake City, so I just did it! I texted, called, emailed and facebooked my friend Mike to see if I could come visit him again. And he said I could!! So I bought the ticket on a whim and planned my trip.

Well, it ended up being a scouting trip... checking things out as a possible move-to location! So I talked to an HR person at Microsoft, which is where Mike works, and looked at some apartment complexes... and got a lot of good work done! Learned that I don't want to work on one side of Lake Washington and live on the other... so that seals the deal for me.... East Side it is for everything...living, working, playing. So that really helped me to narrow it down. Now just to find a job..... anyone know anyone in HR in the Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, maybe Bothell areas?

Mike also treated me to a jaunt around Snowqualmie Falls and some skiing at Steven's Pass...... okay not treating me in the traditional way - where he pays for me.... more like obliged me by taking me there (on top of all the driving around we did on Friday to check out places to live). The skiing was pretty good. Better than I expected.... if I move there I might just actually get my first ever season pass. But you have to understand... when growing up in Boise, the season pass was too expensive and I wouldn't get the worth out of it. Here in Utah, I have 8 resorts all within an hour's drive of my house - why ball and chain myself to one resort when the 7 others might have gotten the better snowfall? But! In the Seattle area, it sounds like Steven's Pass is the best and closest resort so..... season pass here I come!!

Bottom line: It felt really natural to be there. Not like I was on vacation. Everything felt really good too... the job hunt, the apartment hunt, everything. Nothing freaked me out. It just felt like home.....