Diez Días!

Puedes entenderlo? [Can you believe it?]

I love the holiday season. I know, wierd right? The food, music, smells, fellowship, family, really REALLY tight jeans, sub-zero temps... They are all wrapped up and put in our stockings with a note from God saying: "Here, Minnesotans. I gave the humane temperatures away already. Whoopsie daisey. Oh and by the way, there was a pound of butter in that hotdish you just ate."

It seems silly to list more things for my wishlist. But as per request~

If your name is Shawn and you work at Timberlodge and you love to decipher what animals [Belle in particular] are thinking:

I want toilet paper. Or Karley to clean the oven. Whichever one you can make happen I would give you a high five cause you are a dorkus.

To everyone else who isn't Shawn that STILL likes to ponder what Belle is thinking [ahhh..who doesn't?]:

Victoria's Secret undies, size M. I love lace, and color, and gift cards ;)

I've never met an Aveeno bottle I didn't love. Especially the Positively Radiant or Continuous Radiance moisturizing lotion.

A car reading light. I peeked at a lady reading while her husband was driving on the way back from Montana and I felt the pang of jealousy. Yay for car sickness at an accelerated rate! But I still want it.

Exercise clothing. Nix the lace but keep the color. I like bikers, running shorts, good quality socks, tops, headbands, resistance bands, etc... Shawn thinks it's weird that I like the smell of sweat but you know what?? He's the weird one, so there.

The book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I listened to him on MPR and loved what he had to say and wanted more. On the other hand, I could always borrow it from the library. Yes book, you still made it on the list.

Shoes slash boots. Karley will know what I'm talking about. Then again I don't want a Spirit Mountain look-alike composed completely of shoes, sandals, boots, and whatever else Karley straps to her feet. There needs to be an intervention, like now. I wear a size 9-9.5 by the way.

A plant. With Belle at Ashby I have nothing to smother with my loving, motherly instincts. I would sing to it and name it and talk about it to my co-workers and measure its growth with a yardstick on the wall and have my mom babysit it and have an 'in case of emergency phone call list' on the fridge for when I'm away. Let's not forget the "PROUD PARENT OF AN HONOR STUDENT/ORCHID" bumper sticker.

Pedometer. I try counting my steps in my head but you can about guess how well that goes... I reach for my alarm in the morning annnnnd BANANAS I already forgot what number I was at. Times is tough.

Hippopotamus. I put it on my list each year but have yet to recieve one. What's the hold up, people?? I can see me now on Christmas morning creeping down the stairs. Oh what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes and see a hippo hero standing there!

"Just kidding about that blizzard thing..."

Here I was looking forward to a grand ol' Minnesota blizzard to wipe the color right out of the northland but, like so many times in my years in Duluth, the weather people ALWAYS over estimate (and publicly forecast) the severety of a storm. I would much rather have it the other way around, like everyone else I assume. But no one would argue that the Northland News team is anything too spectacular. Probably more a source of entertainment than an update on current events and weather. Take a look at THIS for example.

Anyway, their prediction of 12" is down to 3". Gee. Thanks for the let down, news team.

Mountain time

They say time flies. I say it whistles through the air like lightning. WSHKAAHHH!

You know how I know that? Because Shawn and I's Big Sky trip has already came and went.

I distinctly remember the day I called Shawn to tell him that our trip was only 3 weeks away.

I wish I could call that Jill of that past up and say, "Girl, you gotta another thing comin." With my finger in the air and a little horizontal head weave.

So, yeah, back to the old grind. Nothing but a memory now. But boy oh boy, what a memory it is!! Let me illustrate:

We got there on the eve of little Alli's 21st. We were all rip-roaring to go... at 9:30 PM. But as the weariness of the 12 hour drive started to take its toll, midnight seemed pretty far away. So we moseyed to the nearby bar to see if they'd serve Alli while she was still 20, but only technically. Hey, it's Montana. The bartender hesitated for a moment before conceding. We kicked off Alli's adult life with a night of Big Buck Hunter and lemon drop shots. Oh what a night.

The next was our first day of boarding. Let's just note that neither Shawn nor I had boarded since March last spring, and we decide to open the season on Lone Mountain. We knew we were in for it. We packed ibuprofin. 'Twas a grrrrrreat first day. The snow was pow and the runs were gnar. We enjoyed homemade lunch of turkey sandwiches and Montana mountain mix.

We roomed with Alli and her New Zealand roommate. Shawn described being around her perfectly as, "like living with a ghost." Creepy, smelly, quiet, and a non-smiley. She neither evokes nor emits smiles or any smile-like emotions. Weird. Alli and Shawn will agree that my Big Sky blog wouldn't have been complete without mentioning plain Sarah Jane.

Anyway, Monday Shawn and I adventured Lone Mountain with out Alli. Whiskey Jacks took her hostage and made her carry food and beverages around all day, pure torture. Anyway, Shawn and I decided we'd try the Challenger lift, but it's more like an elevator. STRAIGHT UP. I consider Shawn to be a pretty awesome, good looking, brave, handsome, talented, pretty, snowboarder and even he was nervous. There was a point at which we both looked at eachother through our goggles and airholes and said, via mind waves, "I don't think I'm going to be able to do this." That's how *NSYNC we are. It took us near an hour from the top to the villa down below. Thinking back it was probably one of the funnest runs of the trip.

Alli had this ingenious idea of doing a picture for the Where's the Post segment in our Ashby paper. So I brought one out and we spent our 3rd day taking pictures of us catching up on our hometown happenings while on the mountain. It was good fun, for Alli and I anyways. Shawn might have froze off a finger or two manning the camera for so long. He's a keeper. We ended up with some terrific shots. I like how, even surrounded by the incomparable surroundings, we are revited by what seems to be the obituary section. If you don't LOL at this, that's plain sad.

Wednesday was our last day of boarding. We still hadn't recovered from the soreness of the first day. We recieved a large amount of brand new snow and enjoyed wonderful, sunny weather. We tried to cram all we could into Wednesday, but we were pretty exhausted from the grueling pace. We're a couple of sissys, perhaps. Anyway, we found a run with a few jumps that Shawn and I tried about 30 times. Both of us ended up bruising our ribs pretty bad when the landing didn't happen. But hey, we're learning... that 360s don't come so easily on your first few days of boarding...and that carrying a flask on your chest won't soften the blow in any way whatsoever....and that sneezing hurts.

June Cleaver?

I love to bake and cook. If you know me well I've probably fed you at one point in time (whether it be forced or willingly). I don't have a kitchen of my own, but it is something I dream of in the future. [Insert dreamy gaze upward here]

But who says you can't get your dream piece by piece, little by little, cookie by cookie??

With these few things, all I would need is a vacuum and some bright red lipstick and I would be well on my way to naming my kid something rodent-esque like Squirrel.

I think I would put a simple hand mixer to much more use than a $500 stand mixer, especially with the little space available to me right now. It doesn't have to be anything fancy (really, you don't need 9 speeds!) but I DO want something that will last.

Ashley and Caryn would always tell me in high school, "Take a chill pill, Jill." It's funny cause there's 3 words back-to-back that rhyme. What's NOT funny is not having anything to chill my delicious, fresh outta the oven, cookies. They can't just take a pill. It doesn't work that way. I'd love a good cooling rack for the little darlings.

Did June ever bake shapeless cookies? Cookies that resembled the outline of Oklahoma more-so than a circular drop of heaven? Nope. Clearly she had a little help, and Iknow exactly what she was using. A cookie scoop.

Of course, nonstick pans would always be a welcome addition to the dream in progress.

Hey, I found a vacuum!!

My list checked twice...

I was pondering up some other gift ideas and here's what I've come up with:

I have a cracked lens in my Oakley Crowbar goggles, so a replacement would be peachy.

I like FIRE or GOLD IRIDIUM.

Neat-O

There are some REALLY great deals on my favorite snowboarding site: Sierra Snowboard

These gloves, for example, are 70% off. It's insane. Only $15 for a pair of really nice gloves. I would appreciate NOT losing my fingers to the wrath of Mr. Jack Frost.

My family seems predispositioned to lose them already.

Traveling with style is probably one of the most important things in my life. I can think of very few things that top it. No but honestly, who couldn't use a good duffle bag to pack things for their next trip to Big Sky, Montana???!!!!

This bag is ALSO 70% off at just under $36 bucks. Are you beginning to realize how easy it is to be a bargain shopper on this site?

My relationship with my beloved boyfriend depends on my keeping my back warm.

You might think this is a very odd statement, even for me. But here's my reasoning:

My current coat is built for little women (which I am not, standing at just under 5'11") and it doesn't quite reach my butt. Although it fits me, it's not ideal for snowboarding because I fall a lot.

When I fall it's usually tumbly, appendages flying, snow exploding into air, crazy looking, bone crunching-ly awful. No really, ask Shawn.

Meanwhile, these sneaky snowflake pieces are creeping their way onto my bare exposed back (because my short jacket is up to my armpits) and snatching away any bit of warmth I'm harboring.

With every fall, my ability to ignore my frozen kidneys crumbles like the Vikings against the Cardinals.

Then I start to get whiney. This is where my girlfriend attributes start to diminish.

One thing leads to another and we leave the slopes early, leaving me with a unhappy Swan and a heavy feeling of guilt.

Keeping me warm on the hill might be a crucial element in keeping us together. Here's some things that might help if you want to see Shawn and I to keeping fighting the good fight :)

These thermal pants are $20 bucks at 75% off. Large please!

You're beginning to think 30% is a rip-off, aren't you??!!

K this coat is wonderfully cute and is (you said it) 70% off at $84 bucks. I know, a bit spendy but an envelope with a note that says NEW JACKET FUND with a contribution would do the trick

P.S. BIG SKY BLOG COMING SOON. PROMISE.