Beer & Champagne: Good Friends + Colorado....

Good friends are hard to come by. You know the type that it doesn't matter what you wear, what you say, or what you do, they're still your friends....yeah those are hard to come by. At least I think so. I mean some people you have a friendly relationship with or a working relationship with, but I have to say out of all of the people I know, there are only a few friends that are real and life long. Luckily, for AK and I we have had several opportunities to meet people near and far..... between growing up, college, AK studying abroad in Australia, relocations to Denver and AK traveling the world for his job...to name a few. We feel very blessed that many times we find ourselves surrounded by such great people and this holiday season was no different.
When I went home I got to spend an evening with two righteously fine ladies that I have known since, what, maybe kindergarten, if not preschool and that to me is very cool. Our lives have taken different paths for sure, but for that one evening it felt like we were back in high school dishing about whatever around my parent's kitchen table. And even though we are all in different phases of life, it was nice to reconnect, get caught up and recognize that our roots have kept us together. One has decided to raise her family in Eldora and one stretches as far East as Washington D.C. but that doesn't seem to matter when we're home, because we grew up together, were rasied the same and to this day have spent more life together than with any of our other friends.....that's special if you ask me!! Cheers Lace and Kendra!!
Then once I arrived back in Chi-City, my good guy friends from college (who call Chicago "Chi-City") were also flying in for a visit. All of them used to live in Chicago and have all recently moved for grad school/jobs. Of course they would, now that I live here. It's all about timing. Anyhow, we shared a night of dinner and cocktails, told stories and introduced to AK to the Iowa Hawkeye chaos I speak so fondly of! It was great for him to put names with faces and it was great to see these guys again....even if we ate too much, drank too much and stayed out way too late the night before a flight! :)
And then just like that AK and I were off to Colorado for NYE 2011....one for the record books for sure. After living in the big city for a few months I was ready for a little mountain time/friend time/familiar ground time and so was AK I believe. Again we were met with open arms. We stayed with so many people and enjoyed so much great company and conversation....we really could not be more thankful for such great friends. Some we met when we were just Beer and just Champagne and some we met when we started to mix the alcohol...which can always be dangerous!! :) Remember, liquor before beer and you're in the clear...stick with me folks...just sayin! Anyhow, we also had some good times on the slopes and got to remember how we fell for each other last winter....for those of you who don't know....we spent countless hours in traffic on I-70 as powder chasers sure not to miss the good snow, along with the rest of Denver. During those traffic jams we chatted a lot, discovered favorites and dislikes and rocked out to some fine tunes. And when on the mountain we chased each other down the hill with the winner usually waiting with a snowball in hand....who wouldn't fall for that, huh?? HA :) This year was no different except the snow wasn't quite as good and the traffic wasn't nearly as bad. Luckily for AK though we were booked to stay through Jan 3, which means he got to watch the MSU game with pretty much the entire "Sparty Crew" (20 plus people that travel in a pack of green and white....how do you not call them that? you answer me that!), and witness a great win and an even better bowl game! And luckily for me, two of my best friends were able to match schedules so we could share a dinner together (Meg you were not forgotten....but missed dearly as New Zealand is just too far) and reminisce and catch up. I was thankful for that time as I have missed them oh so much and was so glad we could drink wine, eat sushi and talk without hesitation!! After all that we also met up with my Uncle Scott, his wife Nikki, their 2 sweet girls and the Buzans for Nikki's 30th birthday. Very fun as we felt like we were right back at home, not missing any big events!! And last but certainly not least, we had the pleasure of swinging by the Bush's for a meet and greet with their new puppy Izzo...bet you'll never guess who he's named after!? :) Those Spartans are crazy, but their dog is incredibly cute and proved to us we need a dog sooner than later!! Izzo, it was a pleasure! All in all it was a great trip and a big thanks to Becca & Brian, Jen Alpern, and Bridget & Chris for being such great hosts....what would we do without you fine people....I would hate to know! Also a big thank you to Lindsey Sherry for sending me most of these pics!!

K-Dogg is in Chicago.....so. much. fun!!

back together again....was way too long!

I didn't get a pic in Denver and Meg wasn't there, so I'm going back in time.... this is one of my favorite days I've ever had with three great friends in Maine!! (sorry for the swimsuit shot girls, but this was a good day!!)