Happy New Year

Kel and I enjoyed a very low key New Year's eve and we're sticking with what works for New Year's Day as well. We'll be making our way to Marley and Me in a little bit before dinner at Sauce with Case and Steph.

Case and I rode Green Mountain earlier this morning in calm 50 degree weather. It seems nice to start the year in the saddle... ;)

New Years 09

Island Xmas

We're leaving tonight for St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  8 days of beach, sun, and much warmer weather.  We plan to take a lot of pics so we'll post when we return.  

By the way, we caught Slumdog Millionaire last night.  Outstanding movie.  If you get a chance, give it a shot.  It's one of my favorite movies of the year.  

Eldora!

Kel and I made it up to Eldora over the weekend for the first time this year. We had a great time. The sun was out and the snow was pretty good for early season after a couple of feet dumped over Thanksgiving. It felt good to get back on the board again. Eldora is a pretty cool little mountain. This was our first time there, but we had already bought season passes for the year because we could get them for $130 with our student IDs. It's a lot smaller than most of CO ski areas but it's got a cool, locals vibe and is a shorter drive from our house (plus it's easy to stop in Boulder on the way home and grab some good food rather than fighting I-70 traffic). We got more snow this week so it should be another good weekend...

Eldora 12/06/2008

More Congrats!!

Jay and I got even more exciting news this morning-Our dear friend Staci got engaged over the weekend to Marc!  We have all know that this was going to happen, it was just a matter of when.  We are so excited for them because they are two of the sweetest, kindest people and they were just made for each other!  Jay and I are already looking forward to traveling to Bozeman to celebrate with them!

Also - forgot to congrats T-bird and Lori on their engagement!  They're big day is August 1st...4 weddings next summer/fall...

Great Stuff on Food and Food Policy

If you missed the Farmer in Chief letter in the New York Times, take a peek.  It's good stuff and was written to the President-Elect.  Great insights to the connections between food, public health, the environment, and national security.  It was written by Michael Pollan who wrote Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

I stumbled across a discussion with Pollan today on PBS's website.  Bill Moyers discusses these topics in detail with Pollan.  If you've got 40 minutes to burn, you can find it here.  There is a particularly good segment on a community garden in East Brooklyn at the beginning of the second part.

Winter Commuting and Pie

I got an email from Mom today.  She just bought some Nokian studded tires for her bike and some lights.  She's prepping for commuting on the bike a couple of times a week in the Alaskan winter. Good stuff.  Today was one of our first days of real winter commuting.  I rode to work in our first snow a couple of weeks ago, but it was relatively warm.  Today, we hovered in the low 20's as I headed to work and once again when I came home.  

As I was working my way home, I was thinking about why I like to commute in the winter.  I came up with a couple of reasons.

• Great light in the winter.  I love riding to work in the crisp mornings as the sun is rising behind me.
• It's quiet out there.  Even riding in the city, riding along is pretty quiet especially if the wind is at your back.  
• The coyotes I run into on the trail as well as a the occasional red fox.  I see the coyote every other week or so.  Yesterday, I scared him off the trail right in front of me.
• Watching snow flakes stream through the beam of my headlight.  
• Winter commuting is a little slice of adventure every day.  As the whether gets worse, the slice of the adventure pie gets a little bit bigger.  And everyone likes big slices of pie...right?

Of course, I came up with these and others as I sliced through the 25 degree darkness and did anything I could to take my mind off my two big toes which were gradually going numb since I misjudged my sock choice this morning.  (Teko Merino Wool only if the temp is above 35 - otherwise, SmartWool Ultra Thick)

We might get some snow tomorrow but I've got to make the trek to Boulder for class so I won't be on the bike unfortunately.  The mountains have been getting pounded so hopefully a little boardin' this weekend...

Congrats!!

Jay and I just wanted to take a few minutes and share our congratulations with so many of our friends!  With  so much excitement and happiness in the air, we have to share with everyone!  First, we wanted to say congrats to Cortney and Larry for baby E!  He is so sweet and cute, we can't wait to meet him!  Also, to Andy and Beth on baby Casper-who is also cute and cuddly!  On to Steph and Casey and Alli and Jeffery on your engagements!  We can't wait to share your special days with you guys!  Jay and I are so lucky to have such wonderful friends to share such exciting news!