A Heavenly Commute

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Everyday to and from work, I drive one of the most beautiful drives in the country. It’s a one lane, winding road that hugs the shore of Lake Tahoe before stretching up into the mountains. The road is usually pretty empty and there’s no cell service, which means I’m totally tuned into the awesomeness that is cruising alongside the lake.

In the morning, around 7:30 am, the lake is glassy, smooth and silver in color. The mountains are dark and the sun is just starting to cast shades of pink into the sky. I usually drive through several meadows cloudy with fog. Just the tops of the trees visible through the white mist.

In the evening, around 5:45 pm, the lake sparkles with the sun beaming down on it. It’s a big rougher, which makes for some cool waves crashing on the rocks. The mountains are a silhouette against the bright golden sky as the sun starts to get lazy and make it’s descent.

Don’t believe me? Here’s some pictures I’ve snapped on my phone during the daily commute.

 

 

Driving these roads every day is amazing. The perfect way to start my day and a relaxing end to a hard day’s work.

I’m so lucky to live in a place where I can describe my daily commute as “perfect” and “relaxing.” This place is becoming more and more part of my soul with every start of my Jeep.

First Snow of the Year!

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Well all those gloomy clouds I was complaining about earlier this week brought something that made me smile … our first snow! Can you believe it? We typically don’t get snow this early, so everyone has been giddy with excitement.

Here’s some photos my colleague snapped at Heavenly.

Apparently we’re predicted to have another El Nino winter, which means possibly another record-setting year of snowfall. Last year we got 600+ inches of snow. Oh and this happened too.

I know what you must be thinking…”Why on EARTH would anyone be happy about snow in October??” Well when you live in Lake Tahoe and work in the ski industry, early snow means an awesome ski season. Lots of powder days. A strong year for the business.

On the other hand, the snow also means that the season is almost here and I’m going to be insanely busy from here on out. Last night I had my first “2 am worry about work” session in awhile. (sorry for keeping you awake Luke!) Good thing I love my job.

All I have to say is Bring it On old man winter! Are you looking forward to snow?

Seasonal Affective Disorder – AKA I hate clouds

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Something about cloudy weather brings my whole mood down. It seems the clouds have been chasing me the past two weeks and their gloomy existence has been seeping into my day to day life.

Here’s what it looks like right now. There’s a snow storm moving in (you heard that right SNOW!).

Ever since getting home from the midwest, I’ve felt down … tired … I guess you could say depressed. We had such a wonderful time seeing our family and friends that it’s hard not to feel deflated. Plus, I’m still on east coast time, so my sleep has been all sorts of crazy. I’ve been wide away at 5am every morning.

When I got back to work yesterday, things were a bit insane. I had 800 emails to sift through, four hours of meetings and bad news regarding the health of a colleague and the departure of another. It seemed like everything had gone to heck the five days I was out and I felt guilty for not being around to help.

Then to top everything off, it looks like we’re going to have to pull our offer on the short sale house we fell in love with. It’s been about two months since we put in our offer and unfortunately with our lease ending soon, we are being forced to sign another 6 month lease. We just can’t risk having to pay both a mortgage and rent.

*Sigh*

Here’s hoping for sunshine soon!

Home Sweet Home

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Ahhh…it’s so nice to be home. Even though the weather has been terrible since we landed – grey, rainy, cold, damp – my heart still feels full and happy being back in the midwest.

Our week started off busy. Lunch at Bob Evans with my grandpa, who made me giggle with his no-hold-back comments (like when my aunt asked him if he tipped the waitress more than 15% and he said “you gotta be kiddin’ me! She doesn’t deserve that much!”). I guess when you’re 90 years old, you’ve earned the right to tip what you want!

From there we attened the wedding of our friends Kelly and Schmidtty in Columbus. It was such a fun wedding! I danced almost every song with my girlfriends from OU and Chicago, while Luke chummed it up with their boyfriends. I may or may not have sent him on a mission to find out when those guys were proposing. Come on guys … we want more weddings to attend!!

Then I went straight to my best friend’s baby shower. She is so funny. I was giggling at her almost the whole time. We played a game where you had to match candy bar names up with events related to a baby. One event was “the moment you lay eyes on your baby” and the answer was “tear jerker,” except Julia had picked “pay day.” Her response to the funny looks was “well I’m planning to have a professional athlete!!” lol. Man I’m glad she’s my best friend.

The past few days we’ve finally had a chance to chill out when we got to Luke’s parent’s house in Indiana. Right now I’m sitting in their den, on the couch, with a soft quilt over me, still in my PJ’s with a cup of green and orange tea next to me. It’s raining lightly outside, making it pefect weather for watching all the brightly colored birds eat from Luke’s mom’s many bird feeders. So far I’ve seen a cardinal, a finch, a bluebird and many hummingbirds.

It’s very quiet here in the countryside of Indiana. I slept 12 hours last night. :)

Tomorrow we’ll head back to Ohio to spend our last few days here with my family. In true Cron (my maiden name) fashion, those days will be jam packed with lots of fun stuff. Dinner at the farmer’s market with my brother and his wife on Thursday, golf with my dad on Friday, wine and games at home with the whole family (sister gets in from SF) on Friday night, my sister’s baby shower on Saturday morning, apple picking on Saturday day and finally a big party at my parent’s house on Saturday night.

I’m trying to remind myself to take lots of pictures while I’m home. It’s funny. In Tahoe, all my pictures are of scenery – mountains, lakes, waterfalls, flowers, sunsets and in the midwest, all my pictures are of people – family, friends, pets. I wish there was a way to combine those two things. Such is life.

I hope you’re having a fantastic week wherever you are!