Overloaded

I have become a social media junkie lately. Ravelry for my knitting and spinning exploits, Facebook to reconnect and stay in touch with friends from my many moves and volunteer activities, and now Twitter, which allows me to give my loyal followers minute by minute updates on the exciting life I live and dailymile, a social network and training log which lets me track my workouts. Being this connected (and holding down a job along with living my life in the real world) has caused me to slip on the blog updating. But I thought I'd check in share photos from my recent ski trip, annual girls weekend and a recent finished knitting object.

It was a glorious weekend to be in the mountains a couple of weeks ago. Blue skies without a cloud to be seen and perfect temperatures. Absolutely spectacular and it was much more fun to be outside than the two times I tried to ski last season when it was insanely cold and windy. Mary, Phil and I skied Copper Mountain.



We skied together for one run, then they went off to play in the more challenging terrain, while I met up with a ski instructor to take a lesson. I would consider myself a really bad intermediate skier with lots of bad habits, so I wanted someone to tell me how to become a better skier. Money well spent. My instructor was quickly able to identify what I needed to work on and he ran me through drill after drill to practice. I was exhausted when we were done.

That night, we made dinner back at the condo. I learned a new trick from Phil - we stopped by the local grocery store and purchased unbaked French bread dough. It makes the most wonderful pizza dough.



MMMMMMMMMM. That was good pizza.

Sunday morning, we got up and lounged around a bit, but then we set off for a snowshoe hike around the mountain. Needless to say my legs were tired! But it was another day that too good to pass up.



Last weekend my girlfriends from Kansas City (some who have moved away like me), all flew in to Denver for our 3rd annual girls weekend. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. We spent the weekend snowshoeing, hiking, eating and just catching up and enjoying each others company.

Hiking at Chautauqua Park in Boulder



Snowshoeing in Winter Park at Devil's Thumb Ranch



A night out



I can't wait for Girls Weekend 2010!

And finally I finished my handspun Clapotis. I had been looking for the perfect pattern for the 3-ply yarn I had spun from roving dyed by my friend Stacy. I am thrilled with how it turned out.



Here is what the yarn looked like...



And this is the fiber on the wheel...



And the fiber in a braid...



And this is two kitties snuggling...

A birthday present

This week I celebrated my 36th birthday. Mary, Phil and Crumpet gave me a scratching post, but I'm not sure who is enjoying it more, me or the kitties. All I know is that the yellow toy mouse is not allowed to hang on top of the scratching post.