Change, Glamour, Snow and Past Life

January sped by in a whirl of partying, thanks to Silas' unlimited energy. A couple of dry weeks (i.e. no alcohol) later, we'd finally recovered from keeping up with a 23 year old and were ecstatic to hear  that Manuel's US assignment will be extended by one more year!

Celebration follows celebration and we wound up ringing in the new month by dancing the night away at the glitzy & glamorous Plaza Hotel. The Swiss Ball event was quite fun this year, mainly due to fresh faces and a great open bar.

Here with the two Manuel's

The girls: Jennifer, me, Zoe, Viviane, Leigh

Yannick, Jen, us, Anja, Daniel

This year I missed Tamara, my partner in crime for dress shopping. Ended up trawling all boutiques, department stores and obscure dress shops in search of the perfect gown (for the right price, of course!). Really enjoyed bargain hunting, it was such relaxing retail & color therapy. I even tagged along to Rent the Runway. That store purchases all season's most popular designer dresses (from the runway) and rents them out for a couple of days. It was great fun strutting around in fairytale princess gowns for a morning. I ended up with this red Ralph Lauren number from Bloomingdales for a mere $100! Here a pic from the back:

A couple of days before the ball, storm Juno threatened NYC area, causing everyone to panic and the city to issue a state of emergency. (Un)Fortunately Juno only threw New York a quick glance before taking Boston area captive instead. We were quite disappointed with the measly 10cm of snow and trudged down to Cafe Select to drown our sorrows in comforting cheese fondue.

Fate must've felt sorry for us, because the next day after class, one of our members told me about this fabulous little lodge in Alta, Utah. Now Manuel has to travel to Chicago at least once a month, so I jumped at the chance of combining his mid-February trip to Chicago with a Valentine's Day weekend skiing in Utah. We both definitely needed a break from the city and that weekend in Alta left us feeling completely refreshed.

The mountains were not a patch on the Swiss Alps, of course, and it hadn't snowed in ages, but there was still some good skiing to be had and the lodge was amazing. A heated pool and two jacuzzis outside were perfect for resting our weary bones after a day on the slopes. The food was exceptional and their bar was the local "hot spot" with great live music and enthusiastic staff.

Manuel's flight back to NY was at midnight, so we spent the day wandering around Salt Lake City. It's a nice small town (population of 191,000 - approximately the same size as Basel), nothing much to do besides check out the historical sights and shop.
And for those who asked (you know who you are!): No, we didn't see any polygamous families! :)

Manuel shot off back to New York, which ironically enough was hit by snow (yes, we should've gone skiing in Vermont) and I took advantage of being out West to make my way out to a very warm and sunny Sedona!

Have been doing lots of hiking, meditating and even had a very interesting Past Life reading, which I will share more about later. Now I need to go and enjoy the sunshine!