Sunday, February 5, 2012

Let the countdown begin!

So I leave in 3 days; let the countdown begin! I haven't started packing yet, but this blog post is my last distraction until I really have to start packing. Almost everything is all ready to go-- I went to the doctor last week, got my hair cut yesterday, a dentist appointment tomorrow. We've been enjoying spending time in Breckenridge for the past 3 weeks, except on weekends. Such a beautiful and relaxing place to be, with weather quite opposite of that where I will be in just a few days. While I will miss the snowy wonderland of Breck, I'm excited to head to summer! We've had several days of great skiing, though the best day of the whole season was about a week ago right after a big snow, 10" of fresh powder. That was an awesome day; my dad lost his ski twice and had to dig it out of the snow, we accidentally skied over a six foot cliff we couldn't see until we were in the air, and we got fresh tracks in all sorts of powder. We were absolutely exhausted after that day since we skied so hard. We went to another bottling party at the Distillery, but this time we bottled vodka. I've skied 23 days this season, so I'm pretty content with this winter break!



The International Snow Sculpture Championships were in Breckenridge last week, so we went to see the snow sculptures twice, one time during daylight while the artists were still working and another time at night, where they were all lit with fun colors. It is so impressive to see what people are able to do with a big block of snow, and the detail that many of the artists put into their work is absolutely incredible. Each team spends months planning their work, and it was very fun to see the progress of their designs. The rules for this competition seem to be pretty strict; they aren't allowed to use any power tools and the hours during which they are allowed to work are limited until the night before the competition. It was awesome to see!


The size of the block of snow that each artist is given.



This was the winning sculpture.



My personal favorite.

Last night we had some dear family friends over for a little dinner party where we showcased some fancy wines. For the appetizer, we made a salmon cheesecake served with bread, grapes, and strawberries. We drank two delicious Oregon Pinot Noirs that we bought over Thanksgiving break on our tour of some Oregon wineries. The main course was steak (rib-eyes and filet mignon), with steamed broccoli, sauteed butternut squash, and mushrooms in a sherry sauce. We served four Bordeaux wines with it that were just divine. For dessert we had poached pears, simple but delicious, paired with a Sauternes. A very successful and enjoyable event!




Grilling steaks with 2 feet of snow in the backyard...




Today my friend Phoebe and I went to get pedicures together, and then we went to Child's Pastry shop where we were given free cupcakes! I have no clue why the guy gave them to us for free, but it was a wonderful little surprise and they were very tasty. And now it's time to pack... the next few days will be busy, but we hopefully will be skiing on Tuesday, and I head out on Wednesday! Can't wait!


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