Carlos Returns to Spain

So the house isn't the same anymore. Last week, Carlos returned to Las Negras. M and C had to return to there life in Hudson and since I am commited to the WB for an other two week, Carlos had to return alone. Its very sad but we did have a great last weekend together.

Nanny and Jessie made the trip up and Carlos loved seeing them. We also made a trip out to the Red Fox

It was a fun filled weekend for sure and then we made our way to Marys.

We got to Marys the night before his flight and had a fun night out to the local sports bar, and afterwards proceeded to go grocery shopping, very silly.

Mary tried to convince Carlos he could fit in her clothes but honestly it was a little tight.

Mary drove Carlos to the airport as I made my way back to vermont, driving in the storm of the year that dumped more then 3 feet of snow. It was the worst drive of my life and i was never so happy to arrive at the ski house as I was that night.

Love is in the air and at the Wild Boar

Welcome to Bromley, the love Mountain, Happy Valentines Day

This week at the wild boar, we celebrated Valentines Day. Terry went out and bought us all love ties at the dollar store and they were big hits, never let it be said that we are afraid of a cheap ploy to make a few extra bucks in tips.

But cheesy ties aside, our little wild boar crew, now has 4 involved couples and budding new ones on the way. Plus Wendy Dickie brought in a box of chocolate hearts for all of us!

Wounded Worrier

At Bromley Mountain once a year they host a charity event for wounded soldiers. The Wounded Worrier Party is a sit down catered event. The "back caf " is transformed into a banquet room,

there is a silent auction in the wild boar

,

bands play, people dance, alot of money is raised, and the wild boar staff, works, and works and works.

After an eight hour day on waiting tables and cocktailing, we strip out of out powder blues and into our black and whites.

What in reality was only an extra 5 hours or work seemed like an entire day. It was a good cause , and you can be sure we have a good party after wards!!

Breast Fest 2010

Friday Feb 5th, was Ladies Ski Day and all the proceeds of the lift tickets were going to a Foundation for Breast Cancer. With this in mind, Terry started calling friends and family and arranged a woman weekend here at the house. In the end, Terry convinced 7 ladies to take the day off from work and make the trip up to Vermont. Not wanting to be left out, Carlos, Steve and I (and Terry too, since she did buy the materials) went to work on making pink ribbons that we could hand out for donations at the Wild Boar.

The ladies started to arrive around 6pm on Thursday night and continued to trickle in till around 11pm. It was all pretty low key even though we did have an intense Farkle game and D Rob (Sister Kathrines friend from Philly) made it clear to us that she was a professionally train boxer and was not afraid to though a jab or left hook.

Friday morning started early with Stevie, apron on, cooking up eggs for the house at 7:30 am. They all got an early start and were on the slopes by about 9:30.

We had a jam packed day at the restaurant, Carlos worked the door with Janet, and they raised 310 Dollars!!!!

After a long day of sking, the girls were in the Boar for a few apre ski drinks while Carlos was home making home made pizza for the whole crew.

No celebration weekend would ever be compleat with out a famous Terry Dance Party. One minute we were sitting around the living room, the next we were all jammed into Terry and Steves room, wearing costumes, dancing on furniture, and listening to Terry telling us "Joey, I'm not angry any more" It was an incredibly fun night.

Saturday was a slamming day at work, some of the girls were back on the slopes while others rounded off the breast fest with outlet shopping and hot tubbing.

All in all it was a great weekend full of great times and I even made some new friends. I now have new friends in Florida and Philly!!!

Most photos are not safe for blogging but here are a few glimpses.....

Twilight Snow Shoeing and Chile Party!!

Ok so I am starting to feel like villager here in Peru Vermont. Last week Terry saw in the local paper an ad for a Twilight (not the book, the time of day) Snowshoe Party at the Landgrove Inn. It was to raise money for the local Swedish Choir.

We started off on the trails at 5pm with a complimentary cup of Gluvine (hot mulled wine) and it was really nice and warmed the belly.

The full moon provided enough light to see and it was so impressive to be hiking the paths between the trees with the white of the snow. It was a really fun experience.

We hiked for about 45 minutes and then made our way to the Inn for the party.

The local choir had snacks and then served soups and chile to the croud of over 40 people. 40 being the number of guest, I could have said the croud of over 65 people and been referring to the age of the guests, but I degress...

The food was great, we met a bunch of really nice people. We ate with a friend from works wife who was in the choir and she had made the most delicious desert, a spicy apple cake that, i hade two helpings of.

After we got a tour of the Inn. Tom the owner of the Inn is a friend of Steve's (Stevie knows everyone everywhere here) and it was a beautiful place, I recommend it to anyone coming up who is now affraid of the ski house after reading this blog.

Not wanting to cut the night too short, we made a last call to Johny See Saws, an other Inn just up the road form us. Inside we had a drink and we got to meet a few more of Terry and Steves friends who work there. Pictured below is Leslie who was nice enough to make Carlos a three olive Martini! Yes, Dad, they did remember us as soon as we walked in.

Birthday Blast!

So my Birthday was Jan 20, and I had well over a week long celebration! The weekend before my birthday was Martin Luther King Weekend and we have a house full (see the last blog update for the craziness that when on) Then on Monday my parents showed up along with June and Charlie and we had a great weekend together!

Out for fun diners together at Johny See Saws, and the Perfect Wife, white knuckle rides up the mountain in the fog and white outs, then a perfect birthday day (thanks Scott for working for me) We started out early and had a "Up for Breakfast" breakfast then a fun day followed by a party here at the ski hous.

The party week continued as the day after my parents left my Sister Mary, Lizzy and Jim arrived and the week was rounded out with a wild weekend of bon fires, hot tubs, dance parties and snow boarding!

Hanging out

Mary making the bbq (Vermont style)

The fire pit party (Dad you see who is drinking your Jamesons?)

In the hot tub

No more Fridays off :(

So I have been having it pretty nice the last two weeks. My scheduale gives me both Thursdays and Fridays off, and for the last two weeks I have had Wednesdays off also (my parents were here and I wanted to spend more time with them) Anyway.....

Fridays have been my day to go skiing. Last Friday was a perfect day, it was warm, there was fresh powder on the mountian and Mary was up so off we went. After a couple of hours we decided to go into the Wild Boar for a hot chocolate. What we found was that we were not the only people who felt that it was a perfect sk day and that lunch at the Boar was a good idea. George was working alone and he was totally in the weeds. So off went my ski boots and for the next hour and a half I was waiting tables in my ski clothes.

It was crazy to say the least. So starting this week we will have two servers working Fridays and I am down to just one day off.

Things not to do.

Well I realize I'm a little behind and will have to start being a little more productive here keeping up my blog but you must understand this is a very tiring lifestyle at times!

So, things not to do.....

Martin Luther King weekend is a very big deal here, a three day weekend in the hight of the season and we were swamped at the Wild Boar. So, Saturday was a non stop day for us. I cocktailed and finished up about 6 pm. All the Wild Boars were exhausted, and thank god Carlos and Nanny were at the house with a huge Italian feast waiting for us.

Now, most reasonable people would say "ok today was crazy, I'm exhausted, and tomorrow is going to be just as bad , so I will eat this nice meal and then have a quiet night and rest up for the torture that will be coming tomorrow" However, this is not what we did.....

Fortified with pasta and red wine (and vodka cranberries for a few of us) we decided it would be a good night to head to the Bromley Sun Lodge for Karaoke . I will not go into too much detail, but there was mc'ing me me, doing a little stand up act, a touching love song with Terry and Steve, and show stealing Lida Loca by KK, but it wasn't until George was on the floor acting out the 70's classic "shes having my baby" that Steve stood up and declared enpough was enough and we had to return to skihouse.

Work on Sunday was painful to say the least and I am not really sure any of us should return to the Sun Lodge with out a disguise. So on the list of things not to do....

Never goto sing Karaoke after shift drinking when you have to work in the morning!

For you pleasure (or pain) here is KK in all her glory....

Props do need to be paid as she never spilled a drop!

Snow Shoeing

So when you don't like to Ski (as is the case with Carlos), what is one to do? Answer is to strap on a pair of show shoes and explore the winter landscape. The shoes are really important, with snow in the countryside over 2 feet deep (60 cm) if you didn't have the snow shoes on you would never get through it.

Here is George and Bonnom treckking in the snow
Terry and Steve's house backs up onto the Green Mountain Forrest . We can leave to go snow shoeing right from the back door and meet up with the Catamount trial. Once you hit the trail, its alot easier going as you no longer need to naviagte between the tree'sWhich can be a challange.

After about a 40 minute hike you come to a clearing where you can do any of the following activities before heading back to the house (up hill)

Pose for pictures

Make snow angles
build a fire
make a snow man

have a drink?

All this fun and you burn about 600 calories an hour while snow shoeing. Nothing like the great outdoors!!!!

We Actually Ski at Ski House!

So last week was the first time I could actually relax and enjoy life as a woodchuck (slang for a true Vermonter) I got to use my employee ski pass to go out and enjoy the mountain. It was a beautiful day and mid week skiing is great as there was almost no one there.

There was snow in the morning so the conditions were great, lots of powder , and all the trees were snow covered.

And no day of skiing is ever complete if you don't finish it off apres ski at the base lodge !

And then it was time to return home.

Slip Sliding Away

In 1998, Carlos and I took a vacation to Milan and after driving in the city for about 10 minutes, I put it on my list of places not safe to drive. A few years ago we drove to Sevilla and again after just a few minutes it was added to the places not safe to drive. Well I have been in Vermont for just over two weeks and in that time we have had over 6 cars slide off the road in to snow banks. So....as of today Manchester Vermont in the winter is getting added to the places not safe to drive list.

So for anyone thinking of visiting us... please drive with care!

Keeping the Bromley Burgers off the midsection

So, take working at a place that serves up deep fried onion rings, big greasy bacon cheese burgers, clam chowder in bread bowl, and sandwiches topped with stuffing and cranberries, and then add living in a house that is constantly filled with salty snack foods, and then consider the excessive beer drinking that even goes on during mountain hikes, and you have a recipe for weight gain.

With this in mind, we have started a 4 day a week routine to hit up the gym . It actually a really nice place, always empty, and a three minute drive away. Here are the shots from this mornings outing!
Carlos resting between sets

Stevie and Carlos putting in the miles

Terry Insists on going to the gym in her workout clothes. Either she is crazy or trying to prove that she is a becoming a real woodchuck.
OK, so I am actually dancing here and not working out but it is still cardio.