Merry Christmas

Lately, I have been going through all the wedding pictures. I love this one. Not posed. So raw and perfect. Moments after we had our first glance. Talk about the best husband ever. I love him. He's the best Christmas present a girl could ask for.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! You have just over 24 hours to still listen to Christmas music and not be considered crazy!! I wish we were spending this time with family but I have to admit, I'm excited for our first Christmas Eve as a married couple. Christmas Eve is all we have. No sleeping in and staying in our pajamas all day listening to music and playing games. I mean, we both work during Christmas Day which is okay this year. I knew it would happen due to the fact that I am a new RN.

Tonight the husband and I will eat a glorious dinner and watch a christmas movie, go to Church if we can find a service, maybe even watch How I met your mother. No Christmas gifts for us this year, at least not from each other. Really, we went kinda wild this previous fall with outdoor gear and ski passes.

As I am working tomorrow,  I will think of you all. I will remember how rockin awesome the Hirschfeld Christmas eve celebration was and Christmas day breakfast and going to church with my parents, even the crazy amount of Christmas baking mom and I used to do! Merry Christmas. 

Be Joyful. Peace on Earth. Drink and be Merry! 

Let the season begin

I am talking about the ski/snowboarding season. Heck, the outdoor winter sports season!! It has official began folks. I know, it started a while ago but we hadn't been to a big resort until this past weekend. Seth, Kevin's best man, is spending a season out in Beaver Creek, Colorado. It's a lovely resort! We decided to take a few of our free days to go visit and get some slopes in... We left at 6am Sunday morning (since it's a three hour drive) and we were on the slopes by 9:30am. It was the perfect day for skiing and I was getting good. I am still learning how to go from my heels to toes without freaking out. And I did it! In fact, I was so confident and practicing so much that I bit it. Yup, my toe edge was facing downward on the mountain and it was horrible. The first thing that hit was my head. Thank you Kevin for forcing me to buy a helmet! My googles cracked and I laid there for what seemed forever... I was so mad at myself. I was having so much fun and now I had some serious whiplash. I couldn't move my head going down the rest of the mountain.. So silly. I am sure people thought I had serious issues, stiff as a board. Still mad about it. And now I am terrified it will happen again. ugh. But the good news is that I got to go chill in the lodge and watch the Packers game with a good beer. But I would have rather been on the slopes. Needless to say, Kev and Seth  skied the rest of the day and Monday without me. I am happy he got to have fun! 

But enough about that part. Lets talk about the other stuff like watching "How I met your Mother" a lot on Netflix and watching the last Harry Potter movie. "How I met your Mother" is a new favorite of ours.  We finally ate at Larkburger! I have seen this place in Boulder several times (every time we go into the valley, we almost always stop at Chipotle in Boulder cause Estes doesn't have one) next to the Chipotle. I have always wondered about it and then again, I saw it in Ft Collins. Seth mentioned they had one and I immediately jumped on that idea. It's delicious. Comparable to Five Guys but everything is Biodegradable and that makes anything better. yumyum. 

The rest of our week has been work, work, work. We are leaving for the midwest in the AM of the 28th. AHHHH I cannot wait to see some friends and family. It will be a long drive but so rewarding. And the pooch is coming with!! YAY!

we stopped by Sunshine Cafe, a tradition of my families ever since we
have been coming out west. Delicious breakfast...

Husband on the lift.

Larkburger

I snapped a few pics from our weekend... ohh and no home tour for a little while. Too much going on. 

bon iver

Bare with me folks. We're working on a new header... can't wait!

I wanted to leave you with a special YouTube video. Another one, I know. Nothing much is happening over in these parts. I kinda like it. Don't worry, our slow period is over and busyness (not sure if this is how you spell the word I am looking for. I know I graduated college and all but I tried "business" and that just turned out business. ironic) and friends are filling our days back up! the video is from one of my all time favorite artists. Bon Iver reminds me of college and Kevin. This is one favorite song. It's been with me everywhere... planning our wedding, traveling through Europe, driving out to Colorado. He has an amazing voice.. so lovely.

There should be pictures to come soon and a lot more to talk about! We are thinking game night tonight and then off to Beaver Creek for a few days!! YAY!! lots of snowboarding practice. I can hardly believe we will be driving home in 12 days... AHHHHH Can't wait to see our friends and family.

ohh the small things in life...

Ohh my goodness. So I stole this off my best friends facebook page (Sara). It is just mesmerizing. Take a look at these super cute, lovely owls... Love them!! Thanks Sara and Meg! I don't have to work until Thursday!! I am gonna post some more home tour!! YAY! Holidays are coming up and I miss my friends.

Who remembers Christmas Vacation?

If you were like my Dads side of the family, watching Christmas Vacation during Thanksgiving or Christmas was always a tradition. I remember, I had to walk out of the room during certain parts until I was thirteen. So funny. Anyways, my moms side of the family had their annual Christmas gathering while I was stuck out in Colorado. I know, Colorado is awesome but considering I hardly get to see my extended family, I would have done almost anything. Of course, this was my weekend to work nights. No need to fear, I didn't sulk all weekend. I decided to enjoy myself all the same.

We went to the Rock Inn!! The first time in a while. It was decorated so lovely with a huge, real tree in the middle. Yes, around these parts, real trees are cheap and easy to go cut down yourself! We don't have a tree this year so I enjoyed eyeing this one all night. And the Rock Inn had such a fun band!

[take a look]

This brought back memories...

Don't worry. We did more this weekend than just go to a tavern. We summited a mountain. Lilly Mountain to be exact. Not sure if it was the best idea considering I only had a short time for a nap before my nightshift but the views were the best we have ever seen. We decided when people visit, this is on the list of hikes to take. You can see everything. The Valley over the foothills. Lots of Rocky Mountain National Park, etc. It was lovely and a good workout. And there was snow which always makes walking harder (my opinion). More pictures below!

the top. pictures don't really do any justice.

Dog Parks and Brushetta...

Happy Friday everyone!! Get excited for the weekend! I have to work this weekend but I am still excited!

Today Kev and I went to the dog park and then decided to make delicious brushetta! Yum. Once again, an idea from the Joy of Cooking. Kev makes it best. Brushetta is just so fresh and colorful. And oddly enough, our Safeway has the best fresh loaf. It's a new discovery. I think tonight we might go to the Rock!! Apparently, there is a decent band! Cheers!

Kev bought a harness at the thrift store and wanted to test it out

          

awaiting dropped goods

Trivia Night

So most of you all know about Trivia night but just incase, I will explain. When Kevin and I moved to Estes Park, we loved it... and then winter came and the town went silent. Us young people along with others were dying for something fun to do besides going to a bar. So Kev and I put our heads together and came up with Trivia Night. Back in Broad Ripple, there was a trivia night for almost every night of the week and they were always so fun. We discussed it with my old boss of Timeout and he decided to give it a try. It has been such a big success!!! Awesome, actually. Kev runs it and he loves it. He creates all the questions and gets paid for it! (Plus, he just thrives on researching random facts) How much fun is that? So much.

Anyways, so tonight is Trivia Night. It is every Thursday at 8pm. The winning team gets a $30 gift certificate for the bar/restaurant. So proud of my husband. Did I mention he gets to use a mic. I didn't get any pics of him on there but it's funny. Here are a few pictures I snapped the other week. Enjoy!

The weekend.

On Friday night, we had an impromptu gathering at our house for games and dinner. The dinner was delicious and I made sweets!! nom nom. Some of us played phase10 while Kevin and Garrett duked it out over Scrabble. It was kinda hilarious to watch. But the night was so much fun! Saturday we went on the Estes Park Holiday Home Tour which was just okay. Some very lovely houses but it was short and not as festive as I imagined considering the theme was Christmas! but enough about that. I won't bore you with pictures of the delicious treats I made or the knitting project I got out and we all worked on... boring!! Or even the home tour.

What I do want to share is all about today! I finally went backcountry snowboarding and it was awesome! Kev has been several times but this was my first with all my own gear. I should also mention this is the first time I have boarded in two years (yikes). We went into Rocky Mountain National Park at an old ski resort location and hiked up, in lots of powder. We had snow shoes but I had never been in that deep of powder; some spots were waist high! Talk about a work out. I am happy to report I made it down in one piece but boarding in a foot of powder is hard. Just an FYI. It was a lot of fun, just my love and I. Kev laughed a lot. Apparently I was a funny site to see.

I can't believe we are getting more snow! Lately, it has been snowing a lot. Maybe 6 inches the other day but tonight and into tomorrow, we will get 6-10 inches!! Wahooo.. and we are going resort boarding this Wednesday! Can't wait! Hope your weekend was as delightful and delicious as mine! Cheers!

best partner ever!

ah water

we made it! i can finally breath. 

it might be hard to tell.. this is an old run that has grown over with trees!

snowshoed it. 

powder powder everywhere

i got stuck.. in powder. This is one of those spots where
 I said Kev couldn't stop laughing at me. 

Best man I know. Couldn't have done it without him. 

things I forgot... like Oscar Blues

Have you ever heard of Oscar Blues Brewery? Most likely not but they are historical. Oscar Blues Brewery started in Lyons, Colorado. The most adorable small town just 30 minutes from Estes, in between Estes and Boulder. You might not know but they were the first microbrew to can their beer... and Sun King followed in their footsteps. They have a bar/restaurant and we decided to check it out with my parents. Delicious. Good beer too. It was the Wed before Thanksgiving and they already had their trees lit. Lovely... and Chilly. Below are a few pics from the beginning of my parents arrival and then also Oscar and hiking.

Upon my parents arrival. My Kev made the best pizza...to date.

Downtown Estes along the river walk.  

with his new GIANT bone!

driving for a hike.. haha Callahan

Free Dog hike

hiking

Did I mention we had a crazy windstorm the other day. gusts up and over 100 mph. It ripped so many trees, some big, right out of the earth.