Case in point- our house situation. We’re going on 6.5 months since our offer was first submitted and I’m seriously losing my patience.

Everyone told us a short sale can take on AVERAGE six months, but this is starting to feel ridiculous. Especially because ALL we’re waiting on is the second bank to complete the paperwork for their approval.

They’ve already verbally approved it. We did the inspection. We’re just waiting on two pages of paperwork to sign. Two measly pieces of paper.

And yet it’s been three weeks since they verbally approved and nothing. Super frustrating. I’ve gone into full on stalker mode, emailing our real estate agent almost daily asking for updates, calling the bank mediator, annoying the crap out of Luke.

I am just SO excited to finally have this home be ours. I want to decorate and finally own my own furniture and be able to have friends and family visit and not deal with landlords anymore.

Anyway, while we wait, we are keeping busy. This weekend we have a lot of fun things planned:

- Friday night: Bowling league then mustache birthday party for Whitney!

- Saturday: Republican caucus* then skiing at Northstar with our friends Kelly & Mike, then all-you-can-eat sushi

* It’s true, this Democrat officially changed to Republican so I can vote for Ron Paul. He is the bomb.com. Read up on his beliefs to see if you agree: http://www.ronpaul.com/

- Sunday: Skiing at Heavenly then to colleague Jen’s for a Superbowl party. I’m making my bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers. 

And in between all that I’ll likely be doing one of my favorite things … researching dogs we can adopt once we do own our home and repeatedly asking Luke if we can get one even though I know he is 100% against getting a dog. Now or ever.

But come ON look at this guy…his name is Tripod for peets sake!

And this one is like the angriest-looking, old man dog ever. I must have him.

okay, things are getting weird in this post. I think it’s time to wrap this up.

Have a great weekend!

Starting last Wednesday through Saturday I was helping organize and host a social media conference here at Heavenly called Snowcial. (we’re pretty cute, huh?)

We had about 120 influencers across the ski and social media industries come to Heavenly for the conference, which included two days of speakers, three days of skiing and a lot of parties inbetween.

Here’s me trying to be smart by asking a question during one panel. :)

Although a team of about six of us have been planning the conference since June, it still was a beast to manage. Imaging planning a conference AND a ski vacation for 100+ people. There were so many details like – lift tickets, rentals, shuttle buses, hotel rooms, cocktail parties, conference badges, speaker presentations – to coordinate.

While at times I felt like everything was coming apart at the seams, I was happy to hear from attendees that they were impressed with how smoothly everything flowed. That’s the key to events – keep everything rolling smoothly and when mistakes happen, just smile and move on.

For those of you in the industry who read my blog, I have to say I was really proud of the caliber of speakers we had at the conference including: the founders of Klout and Foursquare, the CEO of Vail Resorts, the former CMO of Virgin America, as well as panelists from Google, eBay, Micorsoft, WOMMA, IMG, Pabst, and professional skiers Daron Rahlves and Michelle Parker. On the entertainment side we had a special performance by Young The Giant.

Making things even more interesting – we happened to get our first big snow storm of the season right during the conference, which meant our team had to do double duty marketing the snow through photos, social media, PR and emails all while also  organizing Snowcial.

Like I said – last week was INSANE!

At the end of the day though, it all came together and everyone had a great time. Now I can relax a little and enjoy the three feet of powder we got this week!

She had the best cheering section for sure! There were two Ohio groups located in the auditorium and we did some awesome O-H, I-O chants back and forth. Ellen said she could hear us cheering backstage, which was awesome!

The pageant was such a cool experience. 8,000 people packed into Planet Hollywood to see who got crowned. There were so many beautiful women, lots of sequin and teased hair. I wore a bright silver sequin dress and was not nearly the most glammed out person in the audience.

Watching the pageant live was pretty neat. It was funny to see the contestants show complete poise when on camera and then make a mad dash off the stage tearing at their clothes as soon as they knew they were off air.

The audience reaction was something you don’t get to see on TV either. During one part, they surprised the girls by letting one be “saved” by the other contestants. They had to literally go stand behind the girl they wanted to keep moving on in the competition. As soon as we went to commercial after that part, the whole audience started booing. Clearly that surprise stunt was not appreciated by the audience.

After the winner was crowned, our family met up with Ellen at the Toby Keith bar in Harrah’s for some beer and line dancing. We ended up staying out until 3am singing, dancing and having a ball.

Ellen’s year as a beauty queen has been so exciting for our family, but I think the best part is how it’s brought us all together. It’s not often you can get so many family members to convene in Las Vegas, so this weekend was very special.

Flying home on Sunday I kept thinking about how lucky I am to have such an amazing family. Everyone is so supportive, caring and FUN! I am very proud to be related to these people.

Congratulations Ellen! You’ll always be my favorite beauty queen. Thanks to the Cron family for making this weekend so memorable. You all are so great! And finally, thanks to my friend Molly for joining me this weekend. You are freaking hilarious.

That’s right, tomorrow I am off to Las Vegas to support my cousin Ellen, the beautiful Miss Ohio, at the Miss America pageant!

My whole Cron side of the family is so excited for Ellen. She’s worked so hard this year as Miss Ohio and the crown of Miss America couldn’t be bestowed upon a more deserving girl.

Ellen is already a finalist for the Quality of Life award, which recognizes her community service (she biked across Ohio to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals ) and for her platform, which is lightening awareness.

Unfortunately Ellen’s family has had to experience the horror lightening can bring. My cousin Christina (Ellen’s sister) was tragically struck by lightening when she was 17, working at a golf course before heading off to college. Here’s a video of Ellen explaining what happened that day:

I’m so glad Ellen is able to bring attention to lightening awareness and her sister’s story. As you can tell, Ellen is incredibly well-spoken, passionate about her platform and absolutely gorgeous! The perfect Miss America, right?

If you want to help make sure Ellen gets into the top 15 this Saturday, please click here to vote for her! The contestant with the most votes gets the “people’s choice” slot in the top 15. TODAY is the last day to vote, so please don’t delay!

I am overflowing with excited about being in Vegas with my family – they are such a hoot. And my amazingly awesome friend Molly is coming too! I already have my silver sequin dress ready to go for Saturday night and I’m asking my hairdress to “give me pageant” tomorrow at my appointment.

I hope you’ll all be watching and rooting for Miss Ohio on Saturday night! I’ll post next week with a recap of all the fun.

Go Ellen!!

I immediately felt a little panicked. I only talk to my closest friends about once every month… if that. Does that mean my friendships aren’t as strong as my sisters? Did moving cause me to lose touch with my closest friends?

I’ve always valued my friendships very highly. Even in fourth grade I vehemently defended a “friend” to my parents when they said the girl wasn’t the nicest to me (she made fun of my clothes almost every day at school). For whatever reason I’ve always had this fierce loyalty to anyone I let into my inner circle.

I tend to keep my close friends to a small group. The whole “best friend” notion over a gaggle of girlfriends, I guess. I like to think I do whatever I can to support these best friends and make it a priority to be there for them. But I sometimes wonder if I do enough?

And even worse I catch myself wondering … do they hold our friendship in the same esteem I do?

Luke thinks I’m a little wacky for having these thoughts. In his world – you talk to friends when you do and when you don’t no one cares.

I sort of think this stress I put myself under in regard to friendships is part of the stress all women put on themselves to keep up every facet of life to pristine condition. Excellent career, excellent home, excellent marriage and yes, excellent friendships.

But I also know that I LOVE my friends. They mean so much to who I am. They know me inside and out. Some of my most fun times have been spent with them. And if I lost them from my life, I’d be so sad.

So I guess what I need to figure out (will you help?) is how to keep friendships strong when you’re living far away? Is there any standard for calling, writing etc that I should try to follow?

Living far from most our family and working in an industry that doesn’t slow down over the holiday makes those special times when we can be with people we love during Christmas even more special.

I just couldn’t get enough of my new niece. Holding her, laughing at her little squeaks and experiencing a glimpse of what being a mom is like made this a Christmas to remember. I can’t wait until she’s older and we can start all the holiday traditions like putting cookies out for santa and seeing her eyes wide with glee when she realizes Santa came.

Anyway, here’s a quick recap on some of the best parts of our Christmas:

The Presents:
I couldn’t help but spoil little girl with some presents. First, this “baby’s first christmas” ornament I found on Etsy (this isn’t my nieces name, just an example).

Then a super cute New Year’s Eve outfit from Zara baby. They have the cutest kids clothing!

Luke got this super-cool duffle bag from J.Crew. I love the leather straps.

I got some PJ’s from Victoria’s Secret.

And new natural face lotion I’ve been eyeing.

Luke’s parent’s also got us this adorable entry way bench and storage unit for our new house!

We got totally spoiled this year.

The Food:
We had two awesome meals this weekend, but since my sister planned the menu, I don’t have recipes to share! One I did make sure to catch though was this amazing stuffed apple we had with our Ham on Sunday.

This is a Food Network recipe from the Nealys. Basically it’s a hollowed out apple filled with a mix of dried cherries, brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon. Then the apple is baked with some cider until it’s tender. It went PERFECTLY with the salty ham. I would definitely make these with pork anytime.

The Movies:
There’s nothing I enjoy more during Christmas than watching a good holiday movie on the couch after stuffing myself full. Normally it’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but this year we decided to go with an oldie and watched White Christmas.

If you haven’t seen this one, it’s a classic. Bing Crosby. Supper clubs. A Ski Lodge. WWII soldiers. And some amazing singing and dancing. We couldn’t get over how small Vera Ellen’s waist was!

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. Made even better by the lack of traffic on the way back to Tahoe.

I hope yours was filled with family, food, Christmas Carols and visits from St. Nick.

I urged her to not base her judge the guy just on his age alone. Point in case…

Prior to meeting Luke, I dated a guy who was around 30. You’d think being older he’d be more serious. Wrong! He was all about playing games and stringing me along.

Then came Luke who was 25 at the time and infinitely more mature and committed than any other older guy I’d dated.

So based on my own experiences and the dating lives of friends I’ve witnessed, here are some things I suggested my friend pay more attention to regarding this new guy and the likelihood he would take their relationship seriously.

1. His friends are in committed relationships. In my experience, guys tend to follow the pack. If his friends are single, it’s unlikely he’s going to be the first to settle down. However, if most are already in serious relationships or better yet married, he’ll feel the pressure to find his own lady love.

2. He’s from a small town. This sort of goes with number one, but I’ve found that guys who are from smallish towns tend to be raised in an environment where his peers settle down earlier, while city-raised guys are likely more in line with the whole “wait as long as possible to get settle down” approach.

3. He has a well-kept place. I’ve found that if a guy lives in a place you wouldn’t mind calling home, then he’s more likely to be serious about your relationship. If he’s still living with 4+ roommates and his room smells like his armpit, I doubt he’s mature enough to be your dream guy.

4. He’s not cheap. If the guy urges you to get “the special” on your date, then he’s likely not thinking about how he can impress you. More likely he’s thinking – “how can I spend as little as possible on this date and still get what I want out of it?” Plus – if marriage is in your plan, a ring costs money!

5. The marriages in his family are happy ones. If a guy has watched his parents or a siblings marriage disintegrate and get nasty, it’s likely he’ll have a jaded view of settling down.

6. He talks about your future. Guys who are freaked by the idea of commitment tend to avoid talking about the future of your relationship much beyond 2 weeks out. If he’s thinking about committing to you, it’s likely he’ll often talk about your future together.

7. He’s not in bro-mode. If he’s still going out every night with his troupe of buddies and has FOMO (fear of missing out) on every event the guys are doing, he’s likely not in relationship mode. Ideally, you want a guy who has a large group of friends, but is okay with forgoing the partying to spend time 1-on-1 with you.

8. He takes you out on a Friday or Saturday night. This sort of goes with #7, but if the guy takes you out on a Friday or Saturday night then he’s made it clear finding the right woman is a priority in his life. Relegated to Tuesday/Wednesday night dates? It’s likely he doesn’t want to miss out on a night with his buddies to explore a relationship.

9. He has hobbies outside of work. If a guy is totally consumed with his career and climbing the ladder, he’s probably not thinking about spending time in a relationship. I’ve found that if he has a lot of passions outside of his career, then he typically wants to have a well-rounded life, which may include a relationship with you.

At the end of the day, I wanted to make sure my friend gave this “younger guy” a shot. In my experience, age is just one factor that can tell you how serious a guy will be about your relationship.

Of course this is totally based solely on my own experiences, so if you disagree, I’m interested to hear your POV. Anything you’d add to this list?

“ 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself” 

Here were my favorites:

Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive.  But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.

Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises.  Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own.  Ask yourself this:  “What’s something I have that everyone wants?

Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things.  The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.

Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.  Read Getting Things Done.

Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while.  You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well.  You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears.  The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.

Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out.  But making one person smile CAN change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.  So narrow your focus.

Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy.  One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time?  Three years?  Five years?”  If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.

Definitely food for thought as we head into the new year…

When Saturday rolled around, I decided to take a mental break from skiing after eating, sleeping and breathing it all week, so Luke and his brother headed off to Northstar for the morning. I knew the big Indiana game was airing later in the day, so I decided to show Luke my appreciation for his support during the week by making a big game-day feast.

First up…

Chicken Wings:
I kept it super simple here. Party wings. Thick BBQ sauce. Spiced with garlic powder, chili powder and pepper. Baked for 45 minutes at 400 until crisped on top.

Then…

Bacon Jalapeno Poppers:
I’ve never made these before, but I was craving jalapeno poppers for some reason. They were also really easy. Just cut jalapenos in half and clean out the seeds.

Then mix together one container cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese. Fill the jalapenos with the cheese mixture and wrap with bacon. Baked for 30 minutes at 400 until the bacon is done.

Up next…

Sweet Potato Fries:
I picked up two sweet potatoes and let them soak in water while I made the wings and poppers. This helps them become easier to peel and cut. So, I peeled them and cut them vertical into thin fries. Then I tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt.  I arranged them on a baking sheet and then baked for 45 minutes at 400 turning once to cook the side down.

Apple Pie Dip:
This is a real crowd pleaser at events and is a good contrast to savory appetizers as it’s like a dessert. First I mixed two packages of cream cheese with 3/4 a bag of shredded cheddar cheese and two tablespoons cinnamon. I spread this on the bottom of a square glass baking dish. Then I topped it with a layer of more shredded cheddar cheese.

On top of that, I put a layer of  diced apples with the peel on. And then another layer of chopped walnuts. Finally I sprinkled more cinnamon on top. Baked for 15 minutes at 400 until cheese is melted and apples cooked. I served this dip with fresh cut apple slices and apple chips I found on sale at the store.

The boys were quite impressed with the feast that awaited them when they got home for skiing. It was all ready just in time for the Indiana game. We filled our bellies and cheered the Hoosiers on to an amazing victory over #1 Kentucky.

This whole meal took me about 1.5 hours make and bake. Totally doable for your next time hosting a sports party or just to surprise your honey.

It was a perfect way to say “thanks” to a guy who kept me going during a busy week.

- You can do WHATEVER you want. Be WHOMEVER you want to be.
-  Find your passion and live it every day. The money will follow.
- Don’t settle for a career that you don’t wholeheartedly LOVE.

For some, these lofty aspirations have resulted in some negatives… failure to launch, discontentment in perfectly great careers and endless searches for that thing we’re passionate about.

But for others- the lucky ones – it’s helped us take the leap into a career that is so much more than a job.

Today is my one-year anniversary working at Vail Resorts - specifically at Heavenly Mountain Resort here in Lake Tahoe. It’s been without a doubt, one of the most fulfilling years of my life. I’m proud to say I think I cracked the code on this whole “finding a job you love and are passionate about” thing.

Now, I don’t want to make this post a long diatribe about how great my job is. We all know that is annoying. But I do want to highlight some of the things that make me love what I do….mainly because I have some people to thank.

1. The People. I really love the people I work with. Both here at Heavenly and and throughout the company. The relationships I’ve built here are ones of support, encouragement, collaboration and celebration. Sure we’re competitive, but we’re all on the same team when it comes to our end goals.

2. The Passion. Everyone knows you don’t work in the ski industry because you want to make a ton of money. The people in this company are here because they LOVE skiing/riding, the mountains, traveling and sports. It’s incredible what can happen when you build a company with people who have chosen to live their passions every day.

3. My Mentors. I believe you can only be as good as people allow you to be. I’m extremely lucky to have mentors here at Heavenly and throughout Vail Resorts who champion my career, who believe in me and who provide me with opportunities to continually grow.

4. The Innovation. I am a dreamer. Put me in a brainstorm, and I’m the one who can’t be quiet. I love thinking up a big idea and then bringing it to life. Thankfully my company values innovation and is always looking to “try some experiments” as our CMO says. Just check out www.EpicMix.com if you don’t believe me.

5. The Skiing. Duh. It’s hard not to love a job when you have something as fun as skiing in your job description. In fact, this Friday, the whole marketing team here at Heavenly is skiing together to “test the product.”

A year later, and I still think taking this job was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Special thanks to everyone at Heavenly and Vail Resorts for making this year “Epic” for me!