Christmas 2009- Part 1

We had a wonderful holiday this year and it felt like we celebrated for about two full weeks! We started our holidays with my father, sister and her boyfriend, Adam, up at Pats families condo in the mountains.



Pat and I did a little beautiful drive on Dam Road and got out to take a couple of pics. On the way back we captured a couple Moose right above the condo.




It was great to start off the holiday week in a relaxing setting by a fireplace watching falling snow! We opened gifts, had great meals, attempted to play boardgames and had lots of laughs.




During the day the group would hit the slopes while I hung back and worked or just relaxed at the condo.

Gracie Turns 1

It seems like it was just yesterday when Sara went into labor coming to my holiday party. So in her pre-pregnancy jeans, perfect hair and makeup and high heels she checked in to have Grace :). Well here we are one year later and boy it just shows how fast time flies by!

Gracie was definitely the "Belle of Ball" at her lovely birthday party. Outfitted in a baby tiara and pink tu tu, it was pretty obvious who the birthday girl was.



Even Elmo made an appearance at the party! All the little ones (except Benjamin :)) loved Elmo. Here he is with Cozette, Barb's little one.



Graces first introduction to sugar went VERY well!






Happy Birthday Gracie!

A lovely ladies tea party

For the fourth year I hosted my annual "Ladies Holiday Tea Party" last Sunday.

I served the same menu as every year, with an addition of some adorable macaroons!

It is always so nice to sit down with such great friends and recap all of the fun stories and memories from the past year. I even put together a slide show each year with all of the fun photos taken of all of us.

There were some great additions to our tea party this year(new girlfriends), some adorable additions to our slide show (new babies) and some very fun and exciting things for the new year planned!

The day I got to tell my Mom "I told you so"!

Since my trip to Paris last year I have had a slight obsession with macaroons, especially Laduree macaroons. If you are unfamiliar with the story behind the macaroon or what Laduree is, I strongly urge to check out their website, it just makes you smile :)

www.laduree.com

It was my plan this year to prepare them for my friends at my holiday tea party that I host each year. I knew going into this that it may be a bit difficult as I have been told by various people they are very difficult to prepare. So being that I consider my mother a baking guru, I asked her to assist me.

We went back and forth over the recipe and finally agreed on my original Laduree inspired recipe. Even after arriving and beginning to cook my Mom was still saying I should not have high hopes for these. I kept assuring her that they would be perfect and to be optimistic. Well 3.5 hours later, voila! The macaroons came out perfectly and I got to send her home with some adorable treats that I knew from the start would turn out just lovely. I told you so, Mom!

I think we started a new Christmas macaroon tradition!

Getting ready for the holidays- French style!

One of our lovely and thoughtful wedding gifts, was from my girlfriend Anna. She bought Pat and I cooking lessons at Le Central, a French restaurant here in Denver.

We attended the November class and got to learn how to prepare some traditional French holiday cuisine.

While we sipped wine, we walked around the restaurant and watched a live cooking demo for an appetizer, main course and my favorite, dessert!



We had a lovely evening and although I do love almost everything French, I definitely say I prefer our American holiday food, instead :).

My BIG 30!

I had a blast celebrating the last week of my twenties for my big 30 on the 17th. We started celebrating with a small get together the weekend before my birthday but had the big party planned the weekend after. For the second year in a row, Kerri and I merged our parties since we are only a few days apart.

We celebrated at a really cool place in Cherry Creek North called Canvas and Cocktails, where you get a painting class and get to drink at the same time, DIVINE!!




After painting we went to Cucina Colore, a great Italian place near Canvas and Cocktails. Having 15 ladies at one table is always a good time!





Then as if I had not celebrated enough, it was time to celebrate with my mom, whose birthday is a week a part from mine. My mother and I decided to celebrate with a lovely dinner at The Flagstaff House in Boulder. Both Pat and my cousin Kerry were able to join us, which made the night really fun. What a great birthday week!

What a WICKED fun Wednesday!!

For my birthday this year all I wanted was to go to Wicked when it was in Denver. Unfortunately it sold out almost immediately and ticket prices went through the roof. Well last night we gave it a shot and went down to the theater 2.5 hours before the show to participate in the raffle that they do each show for sold out performances. The odds are always pretty low because so many people show up to try and get the 20 tickets they raffle off for dirt cheap prices. Well...... last night we WON, wooo hooooo!!!! I was so excited. I actually got what I wanted for my birthday :). I absolutely loved it too.