Happy Valentine's Day

Tonight we went to Uncle Ru and Aunt Lou's place for a Valentine's dinner party. Our friend, Steve is in town visiting and he came along with us. Steve lives in Chicago and that's where Ru and Lou are from most recently so they had plenty to schmooze about. First of all, here is a picture of my new haircut...curly mode. It's sorta long for the cut (I'm getting it trimmed next week).

This is the first time in about 6 months that we have seen their Dog, Deneshka. He's a Black Russian Terrier. He is giant! He's only about 7 months old and is already over 7lbs! Here he is getting his Valentine's day treat...a huge raw beef bone.

The gourmet hard at work...we had a delicious feast of apple & squash soup, salad, prime rib with french lentils and potatoes dauphinoise. Then Ru brought out a beautiful Valentine's plate - homemade chocolate ice cream, heart-shaped lemon sponge cake filled with a kind of chocolate ganache and a dark cherry jam button, garnished with sliced strawberry. The plate was decorated with red and creme syrups. Yum!

A cute one of Steve and Abe:

Whistler, BC

Last weekend, Abe and I trekked up to Whistler Blackcomb in BC, Canada for a long weekend of skiing (snowboarding for Abe), food, and beer. We were there with a large contingent - 21 people - and we had a blast making some new friends, enjoying the breathtaking scenery and of course having a cold one (ok, many cold ones) in the hot tub. The group rented two mountain-side houses at Taluswood which I would highly recommend. The one we stayed at was ski-in/ski-out to the Creekside Gondola.

We naturally had way too much food - including a never-ending supply of bacon and some of my newly discovered and amazingly delicious cookies. Even though there was relatively no snow on the mountains, most of the runs were decent and we only had a few run-ins with rocky dirt patches. The weather on Friday was spectacular and we took a number of impressive pics of the area. We had lunch on the peak of Blackcomb at Christine's which was excellent but also pricey.

On Saturday, we met up with some of Abe's work colleagues for a couple of runs. Here is a pic that we took with them.

Abe and I with some of his LP colleagues who were there also (Photo by Tim).

For lunch on Saturday, Abe and I checked out the "best mountain bar in North America" (top 10 worldwide) called Garibaldi Lift Company. The atmosphere is pretty cool and the food was definitely yummy. We also ate at Sushi Village which had delicious food and sake margaritas which were good, but overrated.

We also discovered that our feet are terrible and always hurt :( We got a tip to remedy this problem in the future (bananas and foot massages - I'm down with that!), so we'll have to try it out this weekend if we head to snoqualmie. All-in-all, it was a great trip and we definitely want to go back soon. For a brief moment, I wanted to figure out a way to spend a season up there working at the resort so we could ski everyday. I think the 60+ yr old that we met on the lift who has skied 61 days this season (!) inspired me. On the other hand, I'd miss my husband since he said "No way!" to that idea.

Honeymoon in Jamaica

I know that I have been negligent in posting about our honeymoon. Finally, here it is - there are many more pics on snapfish, so comment or email me if you want the link to them. Also, I know I have promised pictures of my new haircut in curly form, but I honestly have not taken ANY. We are going to Whistler with some friends this weekend, so I'm sure there will be some from the trip.

This is the view from our room at Sandals Dunn's River Villagio Here's another:

This is the island-side of the resort:

We went on zip lines through the rainforest...here we are all geared up:

At the beach-party


Abe LOVED playing beach volleyball - he played twice every day

The weather was pretty windy most days


We went on dune-buggies through the back country and then cliff jumping to wash the mud off. It was definitely a highlight of the trip!


Swim-bar + all-you-can drink + inner tubes = vacation bliss


There was a big focus on Bob Marley EVERYTHING


We also enjoyed playing life-sized chess


Overall, we had a fantastic time!