Goodbyes and Celebrations

Last weekend Bryant went with his friend Dave and my cousin, Tyson to Moab. Tyson conquered his first mountain bike ride ever by riding Porcupine Rim Trail, which is over 30 miles long! He was beat up and quite soar, but I am so proud of him for trying! In the spirit of the McClures and the mantra I have heard millions of times from my family members, I have five words for him, "get back on the horse."

While Bryant was away, I filled my weekend by spending time with old a new friends. Friday night I went to a bbq at a colleagues house to say goodbye to a couple we have been able to spend some time with in both Italy and Aspen. Georgia and Samuella were with us for part of our honeymoon in Tuscany and they recently returned to Aspen so Georgia could work out of the local Timbers Club office for a couple of months. We have really enjoyed seeing them, but hopefully we will have an opportunity to visit them this fall in Italy. They announced they will be getting married in Tuscany over Thanksgiving!

Saturday I got a much needed pedicure and that evening attended a bridal shower for a good friend from church. It was so fun to spend an evening with ladies from our church. My favorite part of the event was when we each went around the room and gave a 1 word piece of advice. We heard everything from "date," to "lingerie" (from our pastor's wife!) to "forgive." It was really special. Bryant and I will go to Colorado Springs for Nathan and Lauren's wedding May 31st. We are really excited!

Sunday I went to church by myself. This can often be a intimidating, however soon after I sat down, I heard a pssstttt, and turned around to see the Waldron family was sitting right behind me. I moved over and joined them for the rest of the service. We had a guest speaker this week who gave a really inspiring message on success vs. failure and how as Christians, no matter how low we fall, or how many times we may fail, always have hope as our hope is in the Lord.

After church the Waldron's invited me on a bike ride with them. We rode from Woody Creek to Carbondale and had brunch at my new favorite spot, "Ella." The ride was a lot of fun and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Next weekend I am heading to my parent's house in eastern Washington State to help celebrate my Grandpa Mac's 80th birthday. It is just my brother, Trevor and I travelling, and I am sure we will have a lot of crazy stories to tell when we get back as there is rarely a dull moment when our extended family gets together.

This picture was taken on a drive home from work last week. I truly believe I have the most beautiful commute in the world!!!

First Bike Ride of the Year...YIPPY!

Last night, Bryant and I, and all three Garaffa's (Dave, Emily and their baby, Siena) went on a bike ride up towards Lenado. Lenado is an old mining/logging town about 17 miles above our house in Woody Creek. The road winds through some of the most beautiful ranch country I have ever seen. The entire ride I was like, "I love that barn...I love that porch...I love that house!" The Woody Creek valley is home to Don Henley, John Oates (of Hall and Oates), and Don Johnson sold his ranch just last year.

Here is an end of the ride picture of Emily and I before we went to the WC Tavern for the best chips, guac and dinner in the area (even though it is the only restaurant in the area, it is still pretty high on our overall list).

Living the dream....

Saturday Mornings as a Woody Creature

Bryant and I live in a tiny little town about 10 minutes down valley from Aspen called Woody Creek. It consists of the famous Woody Creek Tavern (frequented by the late Hunter S. Thompson), a post office, fire station and the most recent addition: The Woody Creek Store. Although, the store isn't "brand new." In fact, it was a hot spot for many years. However, it closed over a year ago, prior to our down valley move, due to a lack of funding. We had no idea what we were missing.

This past winter the proprietors raised enough money to completely remodel the interior of the store and build a meeting venue for the Woody Creek Caucus, which meets the last Thursday of every month.

Bryant and I live about half a mile from the store and on our way home from skiing last week we decided to stop by for a latte'. What a wonderful surprise! The store reminds me of a coffee shop in a small town in Washington like Winthrop. They sell local farm fresh eggs, all of their pastries are organic and fresh and they do a wonderful job with their lattes'. I forgot to mention that because it is our version of a town hall, it is non-profit, so their coffee is really reasonably priced. Especially when you consider that dropping $5 on a latte in Aspen isn't unusual.

These pictures were taken last Saturday when we walked to the store with Mali.

Next time you visit, expect to eat breakfast at our new "hot spot!"

Can weather be addicting? I think so.

Today marked the third sunny day this week, although it followed 2 days of snow and grey skies. I woke up this morning to a crack of bright sunshine peaking into our bedroom behind our curtains and was immediately energized! This valley is so incredibly beautiful in the spring and especially in the summer. As so many people say, "we come for the winter, but stay for the summers," and I believe that adage as truth.

Today the other assistant in our office, Stacey and I decided to make an effort to get as high up Aspen Mountain as we could during our lunch break. We snowshoed to our destination goal with my dog, Mali along for the hike. It was such a beautiful hike! It is hard to deny that we live in one of the most amazing parts of the county when we have experiences like this!

Oh, and for those of you who read my previous post, I wore sunscreen and long sleeves!

So, as my boss is in Palm Beach and Stacey's bosses are in Vegas, we were still able to enjoy the sunshine of spring at home...the only thing missing is the beach and pool.

I don't often make a habit of not wearing sunscreen, in fact, I am typically a fanatic about it. However, yesterday, Jenny & Stacey from my office and I went on a hike up Smuggler Mountain for our lunch hour. I knew I would get a little color, but thought my body could use it. This picture was taken last night around 8:00pm. I was fried. Thank the Lord I had 55spf on my face! For those of you who immediately want to lecture me, I know, I know, I know...stupid move, but on the bright (no pun intended) side, it is absolutely gorgeous in Aspen!!! I am wearing a skirt with no tights and I wasn't even chilled walking to my office this morning! I LOVE THIS WEATHER...Although, the forecast is for snow tomorrow and a high of 32. Alas, the sun is supposed to come back Thursday and stay through next week! Hip hip horray I see a bike ride in our future! I hope you too are enjoying some sunshine this week.

The perfect weekend? Possibly.

This was the last weekend of ski season for both Aspen and Snowmass. Saturday Bryant and I said goodbye to what could have been one of the best snow seasons of our lives. We did a couple of laps on the Headwall on Snowmass and the snow was light and fluffy, not soft and slushy, which is typical in April. What a day!

Saturday night we went to a make your own pizza dinner party at my brother's house in Basalt and enjoyed the company of 2 other couples we all know from church. It was a blast!

Sunday we all went to church and while the men discussed various plans to ski or ride, the ladies cooked up a plan to drive to the outlet mall in Silverthorn. For 4 women cooped up in the pretentious shopping of Aspen all winter, this was the perfect escape! We had an awesome time laughing and talking on the drive and shopping when we finally got to our destination. We went to a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant for dinner, which was great too!

Yesterday marked the end of winter for many locals. Highlands will remain open for 2 more weekends, but I have a feeling our skis will be replaced by our bikes before Saturday. Summer is almost here!!!

It is basically February on the slopes...

Despite it being April 11th, the skiing conditions are unbelievable! For the second time in April we have recieved over 37" on the Aspen area ski slopes this week and it is still snowing. I took this picture from my new office (I just moved desks for a better view) just to show you how crazy the weather is. A typical spring in Aspen is really warm, sunny days and cooler nights. We get sunny days sporatically, but most days have looked like this. The bummer is that 3 of our major ski areas are closing this Sunday. Highlands will be open for 2 more weekends.

We are more than ready to get our bikes out and get back on the road...better yet, we are ready to put the boat in the water and start skiing again.

The end (of the season) is near!

This past weekend was full of crazy end of the season adventures! My cousin, Tyson moved to Aspen to work with Trevor & Bryant at Regan Construction. On Saturday we made plans to join a group of our friends for lunch on Highlands Mountain. We decided to introduce Ty to the Aspen lifestyle as soon as we possibly could! We woke up early on Saturday and got to Highlands in time to get first tracks on our top to bottom warm up run. It was gorgeous! With one run under our belts, we headed out to hike the Highlands Bowl, a 45 minute hike along the ridge of a mountain (see picture). The top of the Bowl is 12,392ft above sea level. He rocked the hike!

The bowl hadn't recieved new snow in 4 days and we still managed to find and incredible open powder field in the Northwoods! YEEEE HAHHHHH! It was a blast!

By the time we made it back up the lift to the top of the mountain, we had to head to Cloud 9 for lunch. We met 8 of our friends and wined and dined for the rest of the afternoon. It was a perfect day to say goodbye to our favorite ski hill for the season.

That evening we went to the Hickory House for the Final 4. It was a sad showing for NC, but in the end I think the best 2 teams were matched up for the final game.

Sunday, Emily, David, Bryant and I skinned up Snowmass Mountain to the Wine Cabin for the 1st annual Regan Construction Spring into busy season party. Despite gloomy weather, it was a fun party. There is never a dull moment when that crew is together!

All in a weekend living in Aspen...Man I love it here!

The Wedding Album

It has taken a while, but I finally remembered to bring in our wedding cds and upload them for our friends and family to see. All photos were taken by Riccardo Savi and his wonderful crew. I have put together highlights from the rehearsal dinner at Lulu Wilson along with the wedding at the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain and reception at the Sky Hotel. Please enjoy by clicking on the link under "our pictures" to the right...