Bubble Mailer DIY

I finally ran out of all the bubble mailers I had, so I decided to make one. I found this awesome tutorial from Randi, so click here for the full tutorial. I had this vintage wallpaper from an antique shop and I was dying to use it. Don't be intimidated, it really is quick and easy, it only took about 5 minutes to make. Because as the girl at the post office said... "Cute packages are a must!"

Walk at the Y

We went on a little walk out at Snow Mountain Ranch.

This is Amy's dream cabin made from old barn wood. (It's for sale too!)

Here I am with most of the Peterson gang.

And here we are with David, he owns the Subway in Winterpark. They are the nicest and most hilarious family!

Devil's Thumb

Here we are at our friends the Peterson's, where we stayed in Winterpark:

Notice the yurt outside?

No, not really, it's Devil's Thumb ranch. The place we were going to go Cross country skiing, it also went big and turned into a huge and expensive hotel, but we figured we should get a tour while we were there. This would be a gorgeous place to get married.

They even let us in the wine cellar, where you can have an intimate dinner.

After this, we headed to the YMCA, where you can also cross country ski and snowshoe.

I'm Back

I needed a nice long break from the computer. It was nice and refreshing and now I'm back for a new year.

I went to Minnesota and got to enjoy the perfect white Christmas with my fam, and now I just returned from a ski vaca to visit my bestie in Denver - (I know rough life, huh?) I'm rejuvenated and missing my friends and fam, but life will go on!

Where to begin? I think I'll start with Denver and work my way back.

Here we are at the Denver airport. I am taking pictures because I always thought it was super cool that they have a whole revolving rack just for skis. I thought it would be cool one day to pretend we're off on our Vail vacation picking up our skis. I always wanted to secretly jump inside and ride on it, like any 8 year old would!
Here is Sam giving me that look- it pretty much says it all- "Becca you're a nut for thinking it's so cool and for taking pictures, put away the camera and act like a normal adult!"

And then he just about missed them and I barely got a shot of him taking them off!

Amy picked us up and straight away we headed up to Winterpark. Here is a sad look at what all the Beetle Kill is doing to the landscape, killing all the trees.
Sam and Amy here, trying to send a Facebook message, and I was just bored and antsy (acting like an 8 year old again), soaking in all the new stuff at the resort.
Here is the new Gondola and the bus. The bus took us from our place to the ski place everyday.
None of this was here before. Intrawest (the same company that owns Whistler) bought Winterpark the year we worked there and now they dumped a ton of money into it, and it looks more like Aspen than Winterpark.
Here is the Winter Park Tennis Club. Our old place where lots of mischief happened. You could see the mountain from our place. Sunny and gorgeous.

Tired, but Happy

This season turned out to be busier than I thought it would. Isn't that life? I didn't get to all the places I thought I would. I love this time of year. I really do. I love the decorations, love the music, love the food, love the gatherings- hate the stress and craziness. Last night it was really nice to slip away, escape craziness and spend time with Sam. We headed first to the thrift store (it really is our favorite kind of shopping) and then we went to the Flour mill and into Chocolate Apothecary- heaven on earth! If you have seen Chocolat, this is the real deal. Their hot chocolate is amazing. I got the Mayan blend, it has cayenne pepper in it, so at the end of each sip their is a nice spiciness- oh it's good. Then we went to Auntie's bookstore. I picked up Builders of the Pacific Coast (if you follow the link you'll see pictures in the book) I can't wait to pour over it. It's filled with little 2 page spreads of handmade shelters- vans, yurts, cob houses, stone houses, log cabins, structures made of driftwood. It's a collaboration of hippie homes at their finest. Nice, cozy little unique buildings.

Alrighty, enough procrastination. Gotta go pack up and get ready. We're flying out tonight and will be in freezing Minnesota in the morning. I hope you can relax and celebrate Christ's birth with loved ones!

Christmas at the Lux House

We had Christmas with Sam's family on Sunday. It was a really fun time. Linda always has the most beautiful place at Christmas time. I should really do a house tour. We had a really yummy ham dinner. We opened the crackers- a tradition with Sam's family. (It's the thing on top of the plate- an English tradition, you pull them open and pull out a little tissue paper crown and get a silly little prize and a riddle.) It's fun!

We Made Soap!

Thank you TJ for being our photographer and extra set of hands!

In September, Andrea and I took the plunge and set out to make natural milk soap- the old fashioned way. We spent about an hour at the grocery store smelling oils, trying to pick the perfect scent (we went with clove) And then we went on a wild goose chase running all over trying to figure out where to buy lye (it's a meth product so the stores have stopped carrying it) we finally found it (at a soapmaking store- where else?) We got a few pointers from the expert soap lady and headed home to try it ourselves. We were a little nervous- but it worked! It turns out making the soap itself is pretty quick, it's just finding sources for all the ingredients that takes the most work. Now that we know where to go, it will be a piece of cake next time. I think we're addicted now, we're excited to experiment a little more next time. It was so much fun!