Vamos!

Hey blog buddies!

I'm heading out to Barcelona for the weekend! Should be a good time :)
See below for example of "good time" and my current excitement-level:

And slightly more vintage, yet equally awesome (Doug's favorite song!):

Barcelona is going to officially mark my second time to Spain, and I've got the passport stamps to prove it (remember when I stopped in Madrid on my way here?!). Sorry, Dad, I won't be using much espagnol on this trip, since Barcelonians technically speak Catalan. But I'll be trying, I will! 

Today on the Internet I learned si us plau which is "please." When I went to Monaco, one girl remarked that it would be super useful to know how to say "please," "thank you," and "hello" in every language. I agree! Because at least you can show some respect to people, and show that you care a little.

Pictures when I get back, promise! Also, last Saturday I went to Cassis but never updated you all. Oops! Okay well it was just a day trip but really freakin' cool! Maybe I'll go back again before it gets too cold. Probably will be dragging the same people from this Barcelona trip ;)

xxo, S

2012 Breakdown

California Christmas!

New skis for the 2012 season!
Atomic Access

Reunited with ∆Z juniors who got back from abroad!

 patriots vs. broncos game - pats pats pats!

∆Z girls go to BΘΠ formal:

Making cookies for K∑ with Betty Crocker:

Note to all sorority girls: frat kitchens are a scary scary place!

Some skiing adventures:

Skiing this year wasn't as good as other years. In fact, it was pretty sucky. When it did snow, it wasn't much and didn't last long. Sometimes you had to wait all day for it to even get soft enough to shred. And the few times we got powder, it was gone in a flash. Me and Steeze had a good day at Copper (below) and quaffed the fresh on the back bowls :)

 with steezy at Copper Mtn.

Went to Aspen for the weekend (Feb. 9-12):

We stayed with Oley's family - they are such awesome, nice, cool people! - and skiied fo' free one day and hiked a nearby mountain the other day.

me, stu, oley, and doug on top of Aspen Mtn.

Performed "Wannabe" at Gamma Phi-Oke with other ∆Zs:

We pulled it together at the last second. Good effort ladies :)

Discovered the magic of the song "Call Me Maybe" with Stu:

Finals week was just full of this song. And now it's in constant rotation in my playlists.

And that's basically my winter quarter! Spring has just started and I can't wait for all the fun times that are about to come...

xxo, S

Resort living

After our tiny hotel in tiny downtown Punta Mita, we migrated over to the St. Regis for the weekend. Now, we loved the first hotel we stayed at; the whole staff was helpful, friendly, and accommodating. But the St. Regis is, well, the St. Regis. We were greeted with drinks and cold towels, checked in on a couch by a fountain overlooking the ocean... and that was just the start!

Our rooms joined together and had matching ocean views, and everything from the outdoor shower to the balcony to the beds were sumptuous.

champagne "ceremony" pops the top off with a sword

The hotel had three different pools and a wide strip of soft beach, connected by a winding system of pathways that wove throughout the lushly landscaped resort (it felt like a jungle adventure!). We lounged about, eating lunch poolside. The whole time we were in Mexico, T and I kept saying, "Eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired. Nothing else matters." We basically threw the clock out the window and watched time fly...

On our first day at the St. Regis, there was a small "guacamole class" where we watched how to make simple, authentic, Mexican guacamole. The secret is in the simplicity (recipe to follow)... and the instructor, whose name was Tony. His constant commentary kept us all engaged, but he seemed to have it out for me and made me scoop and mash the avocados and grind salt, before mixing everything together, then tasting and serving up our (really, it was my) creation. Yes, the guacamole was absolutely yummy... :)

Look! A leaf cutter ant!

When it was finally time to leave, we bade adieu to Punta Mita, returned to Puerto Vallarta to board our plane home, and watched the Pacific, the mountains, and the food of Mexico disappear below us.
Adíos, México!

sunset on our last night

xxo, S

Tropical storm madness

Last night there was a huge thunderstorm with incredibly strong winds that blew through our little beach spot. We sat on our balcony facing the oncoming storm and watched as dark clouds rolled in quickly, occasionally getting lighting up blue from the lightning.

Before we knew it, the winds were whipping fabric roofs across the beach, collapsing chairs on themselves, and sending umbrellas flying (and not in the Mary Poppins sort of way)! But it was magical and thrilling and haunting to watch. In no less than twenty minutes, the sky went from sunset-dim to midnight-black, and we could only see when the lightning flashed. We listened as the waves got bigger and bigger, splashing down hard on the small strip of beach and meshing with thunder claps. The fronds on the palm tree outside our room were pushed completely to one side, doing the "hurricane lean."

Research later proved that we had experienced an outer wing of Hurricane Dora, which swept up from Acapulco; reports today informed us that Dora had reached force 5, but was thankfully out at sea. Locals said they very rarely get storms of this caliber, and were, frankly, kind of scared. Indy was not to be deterred, however: after coming outside to watch the first strikes of lighting, he went back inside, unimpressed, and watched his beloved Curious George.

First tropical storm: survived!
xxo, S