Life Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Wonderful.

Long drives, overnight shifts, speed dating in the form of catching up with friends, giggles beyond belief with Charlie and Chloe, 100% living out of a suitcase, fulfillment in the form of aggressive hugs and walks down memory lane.  This is what life is made up of right now.

It is beyond entertaining to attempt and explain to friends what our plans for this winter are.  We have a few balls up in the air right now and really have to take our schedules week by week.  Allow me to entertain you a bit with what our schedules have been made up of the past month or so.


Ball in the Air #1
We will be back up at Snowy Range Ski Area to work through the winter.  I'm able to tag team with the Main Marketing Man { unofficial official title } and work hand in hand with him on all things design/marketing.  In addition to helping out with day to day plowing/working in the snow cat/misc jobs,  Hunter has worked so immensely hard to open up a brewery at the Ski Area!  Snowy Range Brewery, or as I like to call it his dirty little mistress, officially opened up mid-season last year.  I don't think any of us, as a matter of fact I KNOW that none of us were prepared for the success and positive response to his brewery.  The first time we put a keg on to sell it was gone in 45 minutes.  The weekend we'd put another one out for sale?  Gone in an hour 15.  You guys, this beer was flying out of the keg.  It was so encouraging seeing people so enthusiastic about the brew, but at the same time it was like OHMOTHEROFPEARLWEARERUNNINGOUTOFBEERTOSELLANDWEARERUNNINGOUTOFITFASSSSST.  Solution?  More than double our brew capabilities.  Simple.  ; )  He's started brewing the beginning of November and the goal really is to get AS much beer in kegs as possible before the ski area opens the day after Thanksgiving.  We have about 7 beer recipes down, and are looking to add a few more this season!

Ball in the Air #2
Hunter accepted a job at a hospital in Denver that will put him {us?} there at least 3 nights a week.  We are still figuring out if it makes most sense for me to come down to Denver with him, or stay up at Snowy/Steamboat while he's working.  We were lucky enough to be warmly welcomed back by Sara, who we lived part time with last winter in Denver, so we are having slumber parties with her the days/nights that we are in Denver.  It's such a blessing because rents in Denver are out-of-control right now and financially and location wise it really is amazing to get to stay with her.  Plus?  Endless entertainment.  She had me almost throwing up with laughter the other night while we were brushing our teeth together.  We were loosely talking finances, and she says to me mid-brush "I'm so sick of not being rich.  If I was rich I'd be like. Here.  Have some chocolate."  Something about the hand gesture she did when announcing people can have the chocolates and the absolute randomness of it...man it was one of the best things that had happened to me in a while.  It reinforces the fact that there really were missing puzzle pieces in my soul when we were in WA.  I'm finding these missing puzzle pieces in afternoon mimosa dates, weekly lunch girly dates, and evening giggle sessions.  Without question I left a very large piece of my heart in Washington, but I'm enjoying piecing together those missing puzzle pieces here in CO/WY.

Ball in the Air #3
Steamboat!  Steamboat is kinda our happy place.  This is where we go to decompress, take all the steam showers, hot tubs, hot springs, juice bars, grilling out time we need.  Before the Denver job came up, we were planning on splitting our time 60/40 to Steamboat/Snowy.  We still want to get here as often as we can slash when our schedules allow.  Because.......well we still like to play around and have fun, and Dreamboat is the place to do just that!

I loved this quote that I saw on Pinterest this morning.  It hit so very close to home because is life perfect right now?  No.  Ideally we'd have our own home.  Ideally we would have a little bit of breathing room between Hunter's shifts/working at Snowy etc.  Ideally we'd have our closest friends AND family a phone call away from an impromptu dinner party.  But is life wonderful?  Man alive.  I not only feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be living this crazy ping-pong life with Hunter, but I feel like we are defining the word wonderful right now.

::via::

"Beth, I have to ask you..."

"...what piqued your interest about pickles so much that you drove 3 hours to take this pickling class?!"

I'll get to that question AND answer here in a hot minute.  But first I am happy to report that we had successful and safe travels and have been back in Colorado for a week now!  Well, Colorado/Wyoming/ColoradoWyoming but you know what I mean. It has been a really beautiful whirlwind of emotions seeing all these people we've been missing for months.  

When I saw on the calendar that Hunter's last day was just a few days before Jaime's 30th birthday, I just knew that we would be back for her celebrations.  Even before I knew what those celebrations were, before I had talked to her husband or sister about plans...I simply knew we would be in attendance.  Sure enough, Ryan had been scheming a surprise party for Jaime that we were able to crash!  We were faced with the decision of simply going to her birthday party, or SURPRISING HER AT HER SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY.  Even though it forced me to fib once or twice { or five+ times } on the weeks and days leading up to the party, it was absolutely worth it when Hunter and I walked out { of the bathroom - hello hilarious } to surprise the birthday girl.  She just stared at us completely speechless with her eyes very quickly filling up with tears.  It was such a fun moment!

Knowing that in the months you've been gone, you've changed in so many big and little ways and knowing your nearest and dearest have done the same was pretty intimidating to me.  Admittedly, I spent far too much time thinking/obsessing over this little detail and formed so many { too many } different situations in my mind.  I should have spent more time going over all the big and little things I love about the people I was about to see and reminding myself how resilient and beautiful friendship is.  Note to self for next time.  ;)

As I was walking into the wine bar where Jaime's party was held { we were having sliiiight car issues so Hunter worked out the problems while I made sure to get to the wine bar before the surprise } I saw Jaime's husband's brother and his wife walking into the restaurant just a few steps ahead of me.  Something about that moment calmed all of my ohmygoshi'mgoingtoseeallmyfriendsihaven'tseenin7monthswhatiftheydon'tlikemeanymore because seeing Luke and Krista walk in reminded me that these are my people.  It reminded me that behind those doors were a very large man's handful of people that I have hundreds if not thousands of memories with.  People that I love and who I know love me.  And sure enough, it was a beautiful evening.  It was so fun seeing all the people who came together to celebrate Jaime.  I loved seeing all our old friends, and meeting new { Hi, Sara!!! : } and picking up at the exact moment that we had left off.

After 7 months of pure longing to see your nearest and dearest, if you have even a seconds worth of opportunity to see those you haven't seen in anywhere from 2 weeks, to 7 months, to 12 months you just say yes.  You say yes to the plans and figure out the details later.  Even if those details require 13 hour driving days, setting the alarm for 5:30am several mornings in a row, driving 45mph alone through a twisty turny icy cannon while watching someone get pulled from the steep cliff and gripping your steering wheel as tightly as you possibly can.  We've been bouncing around quite a bit since getting back.  Denver, then Laramie the very next morning { Those Godkids of ours you guys.  Those cuddly, smiley and beautiful kids?  They own our hearts through and through. }, Steamboat the day after that then a quick drive through Ft Collins before landing in Denver for a few days.  On Tuesday, Hunter headed up to Snowy to get to work, and I drove from Steamboat to Ft Collins for a few hours, then to Denver.  My very sweet and dear friend Lesli, along with her husband Dustin opened up a beautiful spice and oil/vinegar shop, Crescendo!  They are constantly posting cooking classes that they offer on their Facebook page, and it was so painful to be in WA and watch all these fun classes come and go while being so far away.  When I saw they had a class October 15th, it was another moment of "I know I'm going.  I don't quite know how or where we'll be....but I'm going to this sumbitchin' pickling class come hell or high water!"  And sure enough, I made it { after that clenched steering wheel, icy twisty turny drive I referred to } and it was beyond enjoyable!  I worked with Lesli at my last job.  We both got out of corporate hell { no offense corporate job people reading this! } and really enjoyed sharing a few hugs, laughs and venting about how different that life was compared to what we are living right now.  She cracked me up when she looked at me mid class and says "Beth, I have to ask you.  What piqued your interest about pickles so much that you drove for 3 hours to take a pickling class?!"  I was a little embarrassed and gave her an answer of loving to cook, wanting to live a more self sustainable life blah blah.  Though that answer was part of the truth, the whole truth is what I spoke about above.  After missing these people, and these memories for so many months that when you have that opportunity to make a memory, you jump on it.  I am so proud of the leap Lesli and Dustin took and want to support them in any and every capacity I can!

So all in all, it's been really great being back.  It's been filled with little quirks like listening to the news and actually knowing the areas of the state and interstates they are talking about.  Laughing over 4+ old inside jokes brought up by old friends that you had completely forgotten about.  Pulling out your ID and not hearing "Oh gosh, ok Colorado, ColoradoColoradooooo.  Where is your DOB, whereeeisssyourrrrDOBBBB OH OK THERE IT IS." meanwhile all the ice has melted in your adult beverage and you are kind of wanting to throw it in the sweet WA bartender's face for not being quick on the uptake of finding a CO birthdate.  It's been fun remembering how one simple street in Denver can hold endless memories.  It's been challenging struggling to  navigate through a city you once knew like the back of your hand, but it's fulfilling when you instincts take you down the streets to the very place you are looking to get to.  It's a daily goal of mine to keep Bremerton as alive and close to the surface as I can.  I want it to remain a part of me and not let it fade into a distant memory.  

Cheers, friends!  And TGIF!!

That's a wrap!

Even I'm sick of my posts of "Oh my gosh, how has the time flown.  I can't believe it's over!  ::reflection::"  Rather, let's just non dramatically state that this is the last weekend of the ski season at Snowy and man did the time flyyyyyyyy.  It was so crazy waking up this morning knowing it was the last Saturday for a long while that I'd wake up to cars and ski boots crunching in the snow outside our bedroom window at 7am.  Though walking out of the bedroom still wiping the sleep out of my eyes, and the timing being spot on for the entire family walking down our hallway and Mark screaming "LET'S DO SOME SHOTS...!!!" might be something that won't be that hard to let go.  ; >

Cheers, friends; happy weekending!

Nice little Saturday.

Hanging with that there guy, making a little of that there beer.

Currently.

::WORKING ON:: Designing business cards for Hunter and I { for a reason I have realized hasn't even made the blog yet.  I need to get explaining! }, misc Snowy projects, brainstorming ways to expand my freelance and a super secret project that involved 4 oh so amazing tutorial videos by my Mary!  I can't talk much about it, but when it's over, I'll most def pimp the final project all over here.  Also working on snacking on more Cuties, banana + peanut butter combos, mini sweet peppers, glasses of water and hot tea over chips and salsa, jelly beans, salty pretzel chips and glasses of beer/wine.

::THINKING ABOUT:: Inspiration.  The inspiration that has come to me in forms of friendship, love, creativity, strength, despair, design, kindness, grief.  Since leaving my job 4 months ago, I feel like I'm finally morphing back to the Beth who moved to Denver.  I'm feeling myself shedding the vain, materialistic, corporate america thoughts that I was surrounded by for 5 years, and morphing back to the Beth who was less jaded.  The Beth who didn't give a flying football where her jeans came from, and when is the right time in the year to wear white.  The Beth who wanted to give more, laugh more.  The Beth who wanted spend more time alone in the park.  The Beth who used to mail cards just because.  The Beth who found sheer joy in sitting alone at a coffee shop reading for hours on end.  The Beth who LOVED designing, and couldn't be pulled away from her computer.  I lost a lot, if not all of my creative design spark in those 5 years { to no one's fault but my own } and I'm determined to get it back.  This surge of striving to be a better person can be 100% attributed to the bodies and friendship I've been lucky enough to surround myself with in the past 4 months.  It's amazing how inspiring it is when you have the ability to choose who it is you spend your time with.  What a concept, eh?  Choosing who you focus on building friendships with and who you are able to concentrate on spending time with.  And in that time, pulling as much knowledge, direction and love from people you admire most.   

::ANTICIPATING:: So, so, so many things!  I'm anticipating likely the busiest weekend at Snowy starting tomorrow.  I'm anticipating my uncle coming up and staying Sunday/Monday.  I'm anticipating a quick week trip to Steamboat next week. I'm anticipating gearing up for a Washington DC trip the end of the month.  I'm anticipating the end of the ski season in early April { HOW is it possible I'm already typing those words?  Too fast, time.  Too fast. } I'm anticipating time spent at Lake Powell for a very very special trip.  I'm anticipating Hunter and my next step and all of the pieces coming together for where we will live next.  But above all?  I'm anticipating the shower that is about 2 hours overdue this morning. Yikes.

::LISTENING TO:: Paper Bird!  Mary introduced me to them years ago, though sadly it was in my stubborn music stage.  It's not that I didn't listen to her music recommendations  but it's just that I didn't listen to her music recommendations.  I dusted off one of their CD's she was kind enough to burn me, and I haven't turned back since.  Hunter was even moving and grooving to them during our last car ride to SLC!  I have determined it is exactly 6 Paper Bird songs from Centennial to Laramie.  Such a glorious 30 minute drive...   

::EATING:: Avocado toast morning after morning 100% by choice.  Veggie burgers afternoon after afternoon 4% by choice { so thankful for the option here in Snowy's cafeteria and other restaurants in Centennial and on our travels.  However, I think I've maxed out on veggie burgers for quite some time. } And delicious vegan meal night after night, again 100% by choice!  The support and attention to detail Hunter and his family have shown for my vegan eating has been the maximum level of thoughtful and kind.  Since moving up here I can think of one meal we've had that wasn't vegan friendly { we usually cook dinners based around vegan recipes, but cook up a meat/dairy option on the side for other carnivores to add to their meal }, and even then it was vegetarian and meatless!  

::THANKFUL FOR::  Fi-nally getting back into an exercise routine!  Hunter was kind enough finally had it with my bitching and set up a treadmill one building over for us to use!  Plus, the random days that I head into town I try to sneak a run in- it feels so great breathing in the fresh Spring air!  My weight has been up and down these past few months, and right now it's up...and that makes me feel down { Seriously I need that shower to break up my bad puns. }  Spring has sprung, and I'm very thankful for a { somewhat } healthy knee and body to get to ski and run to enjoy it all.  

::PLANNING FOR:: Our last kick of trips and final weeks at Snowy before settling into a new town/state come mid-Spring.  I'm embracing this crazy exciting traveling, spontaneous and adventurous period in our lives right now while it's hitting us smack dead in the face before a slower { albeit much welcomed } lifestyle comes our way.

Bookworm Beth vol. 2

Since January, I've still been keeping my nose plastered in many a good book, though I haven't been plowing through them speedily as I was before.  Here is a quick rundown on the books that have been keeping my attention as of late!

Life of Pi

Oh Life of Pi.  My severe love/hate relationship for you is still leaving ME confused.  I brought this book with me when I visited Amie out in NH.  We were far too busy giggling and eating Margarita's chips and salsa for me to read while I was out there, but I had plenty of time on my way back to get fed up with it. almost put it down.  curse the pages.  flip ahead 100 pages in a last ditch effort to freaking read the thing.  I so badly and direly wanted to love this book, I really did.  I remember sending Mary a text from the airport in Chicago during a quick layover on my way back saying "I'm going to do it Mary.  I'm going to quit reading Life of Pi.  I can't go another page."  She supported me, though for some reason I just couldn't do it, I had to keep reading.  I did keep reading, but I really didn't love it.  I will admit to literally flipping ahead 100 pages to get through the supes boring part and to any sort of action part.  Once I reached the action parts, I started liking it.  I did.  I finished the book rather quickly, and was pleased with the ending.  I am really anxious to watch the movie to see how charming they can make the parts that didn't entice me.

Big Rock Candy Mountain

This was another read from my personal Cindy Maddox Library!  This book pulled me in instantly as the first few chapter took place in Fargo North Dakota and referenced towns like Davenport { where my cousins live! }.  Throughout the book it referenced the glorious town of Mayville { Do you hear me Mary and Karley?!  It talked about MAYVILLE! } where my good friends lived for several years in college.  The book was about two young lovers way back in the early 1900's who started a family while hopping from town to town in order to chase jobs and make any sort of money to support their family.  I related to this book on a few levels, not only because it talked about towns I once lived in and know, but also because it was about living the simple life away from the frills of big cities, which is something I can relate to right now.  Though the ending wasn't as dreamy and happy ending as I would have liked, it was real and raw, and for that I really really enjoyed it.

Saving Fish from Drowning

Good golly, Miss. Molly - this was such an incredible read.  I finished the book only last night, so I still have it pretty heavily on my mind.  I thought this one would take me a bit to get into, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  The book is written from the narrative perspective from a deceased character who is watching over a group of her 11 closest friends as they take a trip to Burma where the group suddenly disappears out of thin air.  There isn't much more to say about this other than it was really gripping and such a wonderful read.

That concludes my list of read books up until this point!  I have two more in front of me that I am debating which one to read first, one is a book Hunter recently finished, and another is a book that was lent to me by my sweet friend Lindsey when we saw them this past week in Salt Lake.  I'm fairy certain I've decided to go with the latter book first, but I will keep you all posted!

All images via. 

Pro/Con. Mountain Style.

Now that we've been living up at Snowy for a few months, there have been quite a few random things that happen during the day that make me giggle, or silently compare life to how life was pre-Snowy.
Enjoy my little list of pros and cons explaining such:

Pro :: Bedroom window facing East, so you can see the sunrise every.single.morning.from bed.
Con :: Bedroom window facing East AND the parking lot so you have people walking outside your window every.single.morning when you get dressed.

Pro :: A fully stocked, restaurant sized kitchen with every possible thing you could need next door if you happen to forget an ingredient or don't have the pots/pans you need!
Con :: Access to a grocery store is at least a 45-60 minute drive away.

Pro :: Living on the side of a mountain with only a handfull of other people gives you the ability to recognize every single car in the parking lot once the hill is shut down.  That leads to the quietest of all quiet nights, peace and calm surrounding you.
Con :: When you do hear a car in the parking lot past 6pm, you freeze and immediately assume you are going to get robbed.  Mountain Style.

Pro :: Getting to spend day in and day out with your favorite boy.
Con :: Getting used to not yelling "LOVES!!!!" instead of your favorite boy's name across the cafeteria with 200+ people staring at you.

Pro :: Living at a ski area = skiing whenever the mood strikes.
Con :: Living at a ski area = putting up with 200+ other people who want to ski whenever the mood strikes.

Pro :: Always, no matter what, always having coffee on and ready for you whenever you get out of bed.
Con :: Fist fighting for the last cup of coffee with 5 other adults you live with.

Pro :: Living with 5 adults and 2 kids means if you just don't have it in you to cook one night, there is bound to be someone who has the cooking itch.
Con :: Running out of food when you yourself have the cooking itch and need to feed 5 adults and 2 hungry kids.

Pro ::  Getting to work on your computer in your pj's and bed head.
Con :: Your computer is set up where there is a time clock, so dozens of lifties who come to clock in for the morning can see you working on your computer in your pj's and bed head.

Pro :: Getting to watch the Super Bowl, have birthday dinners and random nights of card playing in your own private bar, and getting to use your own private giant kitchen for cooking up some snicky snacks.
Con :: There really is no con to this.  I just wanted to sneak it in.

Pro :: No cell phone reception means keeping your cell phone completely shut off and thrown in some random drawer during your time spent up at Snowy.
Con :: When you are actually out in public and civilization, forgetting to turn your phone on, charge your phone and respond to texts/phone calls in any sort of reasonable timeframe.

Pro :: Stretchy pants.  Errrr'day.
Con :: Laundry.  Errrrr'day.

Pro :: Having such a hard working boyfriend who is up until 1am working on grooming the mountain.
Con ::  Having such a hard working boyfriend who when he is done working on grooming the mountain at 1am brings the radio into the bedroom with him, and when the radio chatter starts at 7am you get scared senseless and immediately assume you are going to get robbed.  Mountain Style.

Pro :: Getting to live with the cutest little two nuggets who live in WY, and their constant cuddles.
Con :: Contracting the said cute little nuggets germs from the flu, to adult hand, foot and mouth disease.  No freaking bueno.

I interrupt this blog silence,

to bring you the cutest baby this side of the Mississippi?  No...cuter than that. South of Canada....?  Naw...not telling enough.  North of Mexico?...well let's just stick with THE cutest baby!  Easier that way.

A peek into our everyday:

lots of:

snowcatting

window gazing

snowing, snowing and more snowing

late night sonic the hedgehog playing

beer brewing

baby planking

finally skiing

{ once every few weeks } date night cooking

to sum it all up: life loving.

A sunset to remember.

When Hunter and I got back to Snowy on Saturday, it wasn't more than 45 minutes before we got to suit up, and head out on the snow cat for a few hours.  { Three to be exact!....though it really felt more like 45 minutes. }  I had fully planned to grab the big camera on our journey in an attempt to capture the pure magic felt while climbing all over a the mountain in such a powerful vehicle to share with you all.  Right before we were to head out, there was unexpected company that showed up and I got 100% distracted and forgot to grab the camera!  Doh.  It was such an awful shame I forgot it because the sunset that night was one that I will never, ever, everevereverever forget.  { I also have a really big thing for sunsets, but that's a story for later. }  The ability to see it from all different angles; up high above the mountains, lower to ground level, peeking through the hundreds trees truly was spectacular.  Well, a few days later, I was looking at some puppy doggy pix on our roommate/friend/coworker Mark's phone and whatt'day know?!  He also noticed the beauty of it and managed to snap a few on his iPhone.  I'm so thankful he did so you can see a small sneak peak into whereabouts we've been living and also a sliver of the remarkable beauty it holds!  Enjoy!

And my most very favorite..



Amazing, eh?