Winter Wonderland

The first big snowstorm of the year was more of a bust than anything, but I love having snow on the ground. Winter is such a great time of the year. Think hot chocolate, wool sweaters, down comforters, fleece, snow boarding . . . This is why I want to live in Alaska :)

Ryan and I headed out to play in the snow, but we only had about 2" on the ground. The snow was good for snowballs, but not for snowmen.

We got pictures of us in our winter gear, and my favorite - the dog still trying to catch the rabbit that lives under the deck (its been weeks and he still hasn't gotten it). Its borderline obsessive to watch him stalk this thing.















Life is good otherwise. Steelhead finally updated their webpage - registration opens up on December 4. I still have sticker-shock over the $200 registration fee. I would love to see a breakdown of the costs of hosting an event. Certainly they have administration fees to cover, plus costs of police, host cities fees, food/drink, etc. But seriously, with all the corporate support (see also: packet pick up "fairs") I can't imagine that the cost of hosting this totals $200/person. Oh well, as much as I complain about it, I'll still pay and attend and (hopefully) love it.

Training is going up and down this week. I'm going to blame it on working nights, but I've also just been lazy. I was supposed to work nights on Friday night, then the boss called it off, so now I'm working nights tonight. I might have to go in tomorrow night as well, then its back to normal living. Until the vacation!

Vacation plans have changed slightly. We were supposed to go to the Alps, but thanks to an unseasonably warm winter, there's no snow. So, we're doing some hiking and staying in some B&Bs in southeastern France. Stay tuned for more updates.

The bikes will be ordered soon. For the HIM, I know I have to upgrade and get off the road bike. So, here she is:



I'm going to learn how to build a bike!