Oh hey, it's May...and it's snowing!

Last post I was very excited about the AMGEN bike race. Well, thanks to a little frequent visitor in our Tahoe lives, snow, it was cancelled. I felt so sorry for all of the fans who had come up to Tahoe to see all the racers and the organizers of the race. The bicyclists would have been unsafe if they had ridden though; we got about a foot of snow today and they closed the pass on the highway at one point! The racers are skipping stage one and starting stage two tomorrow, where they will go from Squaw Valley to Sacramento. I'm just hoping that this time the snow holds off long enough for them to get out of the mountains!



The pictures of my car don't really do justice to the amount of snow we had. That was just this morning. Later that day I spent ages scraping the snow off my truck and I've been having to drive around in 4WD, not something that I thought would be happening this close to summer. Here's to having powder days in May!

Little Red Riding Hood

Surprise...it's snowing again! Sometimes I think I'll never get used to how often the weather changes here!

This is my barista outfit. I just got a job as a coffee and sandwich making lady at a local west shore deli, because my resort is closing soon. I am still ski instructing 4 days a week though, I can't give up the amazing snow right now that easily! It is nice to be working in a "normal" job again, where I can wear what I want and don't have to talk in child speak all day. (Although that obviously has its bonuses too...I mean, who doesn't enjoy pretending they are a skiing unicorn/leprechaun/grizzly bear?) The deli is such a fun place to work, although I'm the only girl who works there! The man to woman ratio in Tahoe is crazy, like 7:1. It's been weird getting used to it. I've honestly never had so many guy friends in my life!

I have been living in this coat recently. I love wool coats with hoods because they are so warm, and I feel like red riding hood in this one! It was truly made for the cold weather; it has a zippered waistcoat sort of lining which makes it very toasty.

Coat, backpack, boots:Thrifted Jeans: Uniqlo

I'm so excited for all the changes that spring is bringing. New jobs, new friends, and new interests! Has springtime sparked anything new and wonderful in your life?

Blizzarding

Stunning lack of outfit posts lately, sorry! Mostly due to the obscene amount of snow we've been having. Don't get me wrong, I love skiing in this, but I kind of hope that spring is around the corner. We've had 10 feet in the past week (adding on to the 10 feet we had a few weeks ago, plus a foot or two last week), and my little house has been buried. I'm a little tired of digging my car out of a wall of snow every day and fighting with the fire to get it going. BUT, I was just having talking to a friend last night about this; while I love complaining about how it takes me forever to drive to the grocery store or get gas, or not having mail service because of the snow, I would way rather spend two hours getting my little fire going than being squashed on a subway underground with about a million other people, which is what I was doing all the time in New York. I have always thought that I'm a city girl (and in some ways I am, but it depends on the city...I'd live in San Francisco or Paris any day) but I've come to realize that I love living in a smaller more rural area. Being surrounded by trees, amazing sunsets and the Lake is such a blessing, as is the support that comes from knowing so many members of the small community. After I got my concussion I could not believe how wonderful my friends were for driving me to the hospital and helping me pick up things I needed, as well as co-workers and people from town who checked up on me to see if I was ok. There is definitely something to be said for this lifestyle I think!

Here's a little glimpse of the view, or lack of it, out of my window:

I love this coat although I rarely wear it; it has this awesome androgynous look to it that doesn't really go with the girlyness of most of my clothes. Last time I wore it I was flouncing about in lots of white lace, so I suppose I don't always need to toughen it up with boots and jeans. This outfit is all vintage, except the jeans, which are from Uniqlo. I have honestly never found better fitting jeans, and they are so cheap too!

I am sooo excited for spring. I want to wear lots of floral dresses, ride my bike and clip clop around in a beautiful pair of Swedish Hasbeens. What are you looking forward to doing in the springtime?

What does a concussed girl wear?

Hello people I adore! Here are some shots of me oh so nonchalantly chilling by my woodpile. My neighbor came home and caught me taking these and it was awkward. I'm sure all of you have been caught trying to take outfit photos in a weird place at some time or another. It's kind of hard to explain to whoever is giving you weird looks, right?

Those of you who follow me on twitter know that I have been having a quiet week because I got a concussion on Tuesday night after a semi-unfortunate, partly hilarious sledding incident. My resort's ski patrol has a race every year which involves lots of dressing up, drunkeness, and a bit of speedy skiing. This year, the theme was saucerboy, Shane McConkey's alter ego. Here is a video of the race; our patrollers are the ones looking like they're having a ridiculously good time. (Some other patrols who shall not be named take the race waaay to seriously and don't dress up which I think kind of ruins the fun!)

I dressed up as "saucerette", the female version of saucerboy, and while saucering down to the lodge I got hit by one of the patrollers who was unsuccessfully trying to use an ice axe as a brake. All I remember is waking up in the back of the ski patrol sled and watching the sky go by, wondering how the heck I got there. After a few hospital visits I've been back on the mountain, and tomorrow I'm doing a backwards ski race with the other instructors, so hopefully my brain stays firmly in place! Tonight I spent the night baking 100 cupcakes as prizes for the kids who are racing (facing forwards, of course) against us. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share!

This outfit is totally made up of recent thrift finds. All from Reno, which seems to be the best place in the world for thrifting. I wish I lived closer so I could go more often!

In other news, my godsister/soul soother/stylish thrift buddy started a blog, and I love all of the posts she has done so far. They make me miss her and her lovely Scottish accent and also San Francisco. Check her out over at A Fine Day for Sailing.

Do you guys have any new blog discoveries you've been loving lately? I'm looking for some new blogs to check out! Hope you're all having a happy weekend!

Tess

"As Tess's own people down in those retreats are never tired of saying among each other in their fatalistic way: 'It was to be.' There lay the pity of it. An immeasurable chasm was to divide our heroine's personality thereafter from that previous self of hers who stepped from her mother's door to try her fortune at Trantridge poultry-farm."

Here are my photos for our Pickwick Ladies Book Club January choice, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. If any of you have Tess inspired photos please post them on our facebook page and I'll add them to an album.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a tragedy unlike any that authors these days seem to dream up. The story follows Tess as she is plagued by wicked Alec D'Urberville, who eventually is the cause of the breakup of her marriage. It is very fitting for cold winter reading, that's for sure!

I thought this vintage trench would be perfect for Tess inspired wanderings. It is lined with the most beautiful wool, which is also the same as the scarf on the hood. I think the scarf/hood arrangement is so unusual, I have never seen another coat like it. It is one of my last vintage finds from Brooklyn; I bought it a few days before I moved.

Boots, Shorts, Silk Blouse, Coat: Thrifted

Tights: Marks and Spencer

Other than reading Tess, I have been learning how to Telemark ski! It's so much fun and requires much more thought than regular Alpine skiing. After practicing so much I'm pretty sure I'm going to have thighs of steel - for those of you who have never seen anyone tele-ing, it's basically lunging all the way down the hill. I'm looking forward to practicing some more and then buying a beacon and some other avalanche gear so I can go skiing in the backcountry.

Not much other news here - just skiing all the time! I hope some of you read Tess too so that I can see your pictures. Let me know if you need help posting them on Facebook!

Focus: Softly

I've had a bit of an introspective week this week. After chatting with my writing class teacher about what my goals for writing are, I got to thinking about my goals for the next year or so. I am enjoying being a ski instructor so much; the happy kiddos, amazing coworkers, and of course being on a beautiful mountain every day make my job so fulfilling. BUT, the mountain will close for the year in April, and then what am I going to be doing? I have a couple of ideas percolating at the moment, but it is hard to settle on anything right now because there is so much stuff that I want to do before I settle down somewhere and get a "real" job. It's also difficult because I have no idea what I want that job to be!

This velvet skirt is a thrift find that I didn't wear for ages because it was too tight. Luckily skiing for 6 hours every day has worked off my muffin top sufficiently for me to wear it! Though god only knows what will happen when I stop skiing so much and I'm still eating two dinners like I am at the moment! I never realized how much energy you need to be teaching kids all day.

The hat is a lucky find from Beacon's Closet, and it's so beautiful. It's difficult to wear for everyday (my roommate had a laughing fit when he saw it!) but I am looking forward to wearing it this summer. Maybe to some weddings?

Boots, Skirt, Hat, Coat: Thrifted

Top: FCUK

I hope you're all having a happy week. Are any of you having as many problems deciding your

future as I am?

Snowshoeing!

As promised, here are the pictures of my snowshoeing trip with my lovely roommates this past week. I love having such supportive and amazing girls to hang out with. We had so much fun doing this (even though we got lost!). My dad gave me a pair of snowshoes so I'm hoping to go lots more soon.

Being silly with the roomies:

Pretty Ange:

My snowshoes!

I hope you all had a joy filled weekend!

Snow Lady

As you can tell from my scantily clad shoulders in these pictures, it is warm here! So warm that all the snow and ice has been melting. It's been fun, but now I want the snow gods to do their thing and bring back the powder. I have been getting a serious goggle tan, which I'm not sure is all that cool, as much as my ski obsessed roommates tell me it is.

I'm going to start learning telemark skiing so I can give my body a break from alpine skiing for a day or so every week. I'm really excited to learn something new, and I'm hoping that all the lunging is going to do wonders for my poor legs, who haven't visited the gym anytime recently.

This is the first time that I've worn this dress (actually a skirt) because it squishes me in all the wrong places, but I figured I may as well give it a try. I love the print; it has little strawberries and flowers all over it. This whole outfit is thrifted. I love it when that happens!

I went on a trip to Quincy over the weekend, and had so much fun eating sushi, snowshoeing, and buying tons of food with my roommates. I'm going to post some pictures of our snowshoe trip as soon as I have a moment. Snowshoeing was great fun, but as soon as we got to the top of the mountain I wished I had my skis on. I'm totally addicted to being on my skis. I think I would rather ski than walk anywhere! I used to feel that way about swimming. It's funny how things have changed!

Do you have a sport that you practice almost every day?