Beautiful Feet: February 2009

That's a statement I never thought I would say. Over President's Day weekend a group of us went down to Pennsylvania for a winter getaway. Ann's co-worker was beyond generous in letting us stay in his vacation home while he wasn't using it. We had the entire 5-bedroom house to ourselves - furnished and stocked with everything we would find in a house that people lived in all year round. Since we had so much room, we invited other friends and ended up with three groups on the trip - no one knew everyone in the group, which made it kind of interesting because we had no idea how everyone would get along. I think it ended up working out amazingly well, and we all had an awesome time! Actually, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun over a long weekend - AND on top of that, I didn't have to think about what I wanted to do for Valentine's Day haha, even though I had already dismissed it as a stupidly commercial holiday made to rip guys off and give girls high and false expectations :)

Groceries for the weekend - you'd think we were stocking up for some natural disaster or something ....

Jenny reading a trashy romance novel and looking content

We like sleepover parties in the living room :) Sometime during the course of the late evening, me and Jenny were somehow convinced to try snowboarding since everyone else was doing it. I was terrified - if I can't even ski, I'd probably fall on my head on a snowboard! But peer pressure won and we went along, haha.

Heading up to the slopes!

What are we getting ourselves into .....

Sherry, Andy, Jenny and I were all first timers on snowboards, so we took a lesson. The teacher was a very unhelpful 16 year old kid, he wasn't even paying attention to us most of the time. It was kind of a waste but at least we got to get a feel for the board before going on the bunny slope. The experienced snowboarders went ahead to warm up on the bunny slope so they can watch us fall when our lesson was over.

Looking sporty right after lunch, ready for the lift (getting off the lift really is the hardest part, haha)!

It took us like 30 minutes to get down the hill for the first time.

Unbuckling our boot at the bottom of the hill - that really was annoying after awhile

Yes, that's actually me on a snowboard

Yay I made it!

The snow was nice and powdery

Look at Jenny all athletic - she was graceful and coordinated - took us all by surprise! haha :)

Sherry and Andy

Danny and Ann - the experienced boarders who had to babysit us on the bunny slope

The boys cooking dinner for us on Valentine's Day

We were grilling - while it was snowing outside - see the snow on the grill? Pretty hardcore

What a great getaway for the girls :)

I LOVE fireplaces - isn't it beautiful?

No post is complete without food pictures

People mingling - right before dinner, Shilpa and four of her friends (the Russians) arrived with many bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates.

Irina and Natalie

Dmitry and Stan

Natalie making mulled wine - it was my first time having it, spicy and not bad

Sherry's invention of toasting marshmallows in the fireplace

Day 2 of snowboarding! Shilpa joined us on the bunny slope.

I like this picture. After a few times on the bunny slope, we were getting bored and annoyed that we have to dodge so many people. So after lunch, we said .... let's go on the easy green!!

Our first time going down a green together!

I'm the 6th closest person to the bottom of the hill in this picture

We were done for the day - resting while we waited for the others. Look, the lights are turning on!

It's so beautiful at night - next time maybe we'll do a night boarding session :)

By the time we got home and showered it was already 8pm, then we all chipped in and cooked a dish for dinner. It was a great group effort - everything was delicious.

It was a cozy evening with just the six of us - a great ending to the weekend, quiet and relaxing.

Jackson made the steak and Danny make the sauce - awesome combo

Of course, how can a meal be complete without dessert!

I don't know how it happened, because we were exhausted, but we ended up watching a really bad movie and then played Taboo and Scene It until nearly 4am!!!