Skiing in Chamonix France!!

We just got back from a quick weekend ski trip in Chamonix France. For my Birthday, Shaun surprised me with this ski trip and it was awesome! My parents and Aunt Kate went skiing here about 15 years ago and I have always wanted to go!

Thursday night we went out on the town and had dinner. We walk into the restaurant and sit down and the live band starts playing "Sweet Home Alabama" the lyrics were in French except the chorus was in English. We've now decided it is our goal to see in how many different languages and countries we can hear that song :)

On Friday we headed up the Aiguille Du Midi, which is a gondola ride that takes you up the Mountain to the highest point in Europe. The views were awesome! We also met the craziest group of people in my life. They rode up the Gondola and ski'd down the mountain, which is not a mountain normal people should be skiing down. Saturday we got up and ski'd the French Alps. The skiing was good, we felt we pretty much dominated the mountain (except for 1 run which I was in the starfish position clinging to the side of the mountain, sliding down most of it). There wasn't a ton of snow in France and it was a little icy but other than that it was great skiing!

Sunday we went to Italy (about a 20 min drive) and ski'd the Italian Alps- Courmayuer. This mountain was awesome!! It had a lot more snow and was bigger. We also went on Ski Racing Team day. Shaun made it a personal challenge to beat the 8 year old girls that were flying past us down the mountain. He never got close.

The food was fantastic as well!! I pretty much only ate cheese, bread, pizza (when we were in Italy) and chocolate the whole time we were there and I was in Heaven :) The town of Chamonix is soo cool! Tons of Restaurants and bars all with a lot of character. And every French person we met was really very nice to us...some of them just kept speaking french to us and we would just kind of stare at each other but for the most part they were really nice! Also the dogs there are amazing! They are so well behaved...Colt would be kicked out of France instantaneously!

At the top of the Highest point in Europe!

The craziest people ever getting ready to ski down!! They are all tied together and have serious mountain climbing equipment with them. It doesn't look that steep in this picture but one wrong step and you're sliding all the way down the mountain. We watched one guy go before this group and he slipped and had to sit at the edge for about 30 min before he could keep going.

Apres Ski!! Relaxing in a bar after skiing!

View of Chamonix from our apartment

The super cute town of Chamonix!!

View from the Airplane as we were leaving :(

Glendalough and The Jackson's come to Dublin for a quick visit!!

Our friends Justin and Marisa Jackson came to Dublin to visit. They live in Frankfort, Germany and are living/working abroad for a few years just like us! Shaun and Marisa grew up in Huntington Beach together and Justin grew up about 5 miles down the road from me in GA! Crazy!

We had a great time while they were here! And Marisa came ready and raring to go with her own itinerary which was awesome!! Saturday morning Shaun cooked a traditional Irish Breakfast, which anyone that visits us WILL be getting an Irish Breakfast cooked by Shaun as that's his thing :) Then we went out about 25 min outside of Dublin in the Wicklow Mountain area to a place called Glendalough.

You would've thought we were 5 hours from civilization...we saw sheep galore, a 6th century Monastery, and went on a great hike! Here's a few pics of Glendalough. On Saturday night we had to show Justin and Marisa the best pubs in Dublin to get a pint of Guinness, we listened to an all girl band rock out with violins to some classic music (they were actually really good!) And then we ventured over to Temple Bar area which is the ultimate American tourist trap but had a great time and learned an Irish saying..."Don't be so bent!"

Justin and I also found out we have a shared love for Cadbury Eggs! Which you get here in Ireland every day...not just around Easter!!


The Whole Gang







Colt Rockin Out and enjoying the Snow!


The oldest cemetery I've ever been too in the Monastic City





At one of the Lakes!

WAR EAGLE!!

Whoo!! Auburn National Champions!! My cousin messaged me after the game and asking what the odds were that when I move out of the country Auburn plays for a National Championship and WINS!?! I mean I seriously can't believe it!
We did get to watch the game on TV. The game started at 1:30am Ireland time and I watched every minute of it! Didn't go to bed until 5:30 am but it was sooo worth it!!

WAR EAGLE YALL!! even though we're across the pond, I won't be losin' my southern roots anytime soon :)

Colt is settling in!

Colt has finally arrived in Ireland!! After 6 weeks and 10 lbs heavier spent with grandma (my mom) he's finally here! Shaun picked him up on Wednesday...he had a rough 2 nights: dog jet lag and a few nightmares, but now he is back to normal! On Saturday we checked out the largest park in Europe- Phenix Park and Sunday we went to Marley Dog park!

He's a super happy pup again :)

New Year's 2010-2011: ATL

For New Years we were in ATL with my friends! We had a mini reunion of our New Years in NYC 2008.



Ben was in his own dance party world
Shaun was a bartender for a little while and the 90's cover band groupie
JJ brought the good time

Us girls were just along for the good time :)




Favorite story of the night: Shaun to a girl "you shouldn't be smoking and drinking if you're pregnant" Big Hungry Girl to Shaun "I'm Not!"- as she proceeded to punch him in the face.

4 Christmas'

We had such a fabulous time with our families over Christmas! We spent 6 days in CA and 6 days in Atlanta. Even though it rained in CA we still had a great time hanging with Shaun's family. I seriously have never seen so many presents before!



ATL was great even though when we landed there was snow on the ground-I think the bad weather was following us! And Colt was so so excited to see us!! We missed him so much!!

TOO MUCH SNOW!!

The week after Thanksgiving, it started snowing like crazy! We had the coldest Nov on record ever in Ireland. We got about 1.5 ft - 2 ft of snow, which I know maybe doesn't seem like a lot but it's a lot of snow for a city that's about as prepared to deal with snow as Atlanta, GA is.

Shaun and I started going stir crazy...we ventured out after being snowed in for a week to check out the Wicklow Mountains. We got the car stuck and had to have about 8 people push/dig us out :)