Whiny Wednesday: Family Skiing at Copper Mountain

 

Ahhhh...take me back to Colorado, please! If I could only convey to you through writing and pictures how beautiful Copper Mountain was last week. If only. I'll certainly try, but you really have to take this trip yourself to see it. Obviously the snowy mountains on spring break are beautiful, but the entire ambiance of Copper was like no other. It's a great (great!) place for skiing for the first time and for families, but it's also an amazing place for teens or older adults. I saw a great mix of people and everyone was completely nice and happy to be there (obviously). 

 

Our weather was so varied, it was crazy! Since it was the last week in March, we definitely expected it to be to sunnier and warmer skiing. When we first arrived, the first couple of days were like this. So we applied sunscreen and wore our short-sleeve base layers...good to go! What's crazy is the third day there, it snowed all day long and was absolutely beautiful! We skiied in the snow...we tubed in the snow...we walked around in the snow. And it actually made it a tad bit easier for me to ski as a newbie. 

My first day of skiing was brutal! (As I knew it would be.) I didn't take ski school to try to save a little, and my husband insisted he could teach me on the Kokomo "green" run. You guys, I almost ended up riding the ski lift back down to the bottom, ha! I literally had to jump off of it right as it was about to turn back. Too funny. The operator helped me back on one of my skis and assured me I wasn't the first. I think I fell about 12 times that day and was exhausted after I was finished. I took me about 45 minutes...and did you know it's harder getting up after falling than it is actually skiing? True words.

The day it snowed though, I rode the lift again to Kokomo with both my husband and sister-in-law. I was determined to beat it. And as I conquered the lift getting off I literally starting yelling yay!!! People probably thought I was nuts. That day I only fell about five times and was pretty darn proud of myself. I think if I stayed at Copper an entire week, I would be a pretty good skier by the end of the week. No, seriously. I'm certainly not hanging up my heels for skis, but mark my words. It's something I would definitely do again! There's something about it. It's such hard work, but feels so rewarding in the end. 

As for little C, he tried skiing for a few minutes (keep in mind he's only five) and realized it wasn't his thing. The next day, we tried tubing and I took him to the kid's Critterland. He absolutely loved tubing! We did it for an entire hour and he didn't want to stop. He thought he was so big going so fast...and then spinning down the slopes! There were four different runs, but we stuck to only three (the fourth was the fastest). Riding the little conveyor belt up to the top with our tube was pretty fun, too. It's the little things. 

We stayed three nights at Passage Point, which was right in the thick of things in the Center Village. I loved the location because we could walk eat and shop (and rent our equipment!), and then the bus stop was right outside so we could ride to the tubes and to the greens. (We could walk to the blues, but only my husband sister-in-law did those.)

Ours was a two-bedroom/two-bathroom condo with a fireplace and balcony and we just adored it. In fact, little C. wanted to hang out there more than anything. The second night, we enjoyed the hot tubs. And even little C. got to join in because they had one huge one that was the perfect temperature for both adults and kids. He loved that! 

At the end of the day, we would store our skis in our own ski locker downstairs, and that was nice, too. The six floors of our building was very quiet, except for the occasional sound of ski boots trampling down the hallway. The only thing I wish our room had was curtains and a rocking chair, for the mere purpose of me having to rock baby L to sleep. Wanna know my secret? I rocked her in my arms in the dark bathroom! Hey, it worked. Another tip if you stay in this building? It doesn't have air, so if you crack the windows and use a couple of the box fans (on a warmer day), it's perfect! Also, keep in mind check-in isn't until 4 p.m. Next time, we will arrive later in the day and stay an extra night!

All in all, we adored our stay at Passage Point at Copper Mountain and my husband is already planning our trip back for next year. I've created a monster! :) If you're looking to ski for the first time or with your family, these slopes are amazing and great for both. If you go, let me know!

For more photos of our trip, click here! 

 

Disclosure: This post was not sponsored by Copper Mountain, and I was not paid for it. Everything you read here is my opinion. Travel accommodations were made for my family to review the facilities and tickets to amenities were provided for the purpose of this review.

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Celebrating Baby at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek

Goodness gracious, did we ever have FUN in Dallas this past weekend! For our annual girl's weekend, I traveled with my mom and sister to do some therapeutic pampering and shopping, all while staying in the luxe Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. We've sorta hotel hopped about Dallas the last decade, and this one has come up by far as our fav (see my previous review). Ding, ding...we have a winner!

Rosewood Hotels are known for their luxury, it's not a big chain after all. Think quality over quantity. This particular hotel used to be a private residence, and it has that "hidden in the trees" romantic charm about it. It's quaint, meticulous and pretty much an icon. Everyone at this hotel - from the bellhop to the valet - always treats us with the utmost respect. While it's a high-quality, luxury hotel, you don't get a snooty, arrogant factor here at all. Love that. And the beds...the beds are the most comfortable around. I opted not to lug my huge pregnancy pillow with me, so instead nuzzled in between three fluffy pillows from the hotel, and let me say, it was magical. 

When we arrived, our jaws dropped open at the sight of our fancy living room. Trust me, I've stayed in some pretty swank hotels around the country (it's one of my fav pastimes, in fact), but this bedroom/living room/double room situation had me at hello. I was actually quite sad we had opted to leave the kids at home in the end because the living room was huge and we had so much space! We were, however, there to celebrate baby L. so we didn't have a problem at all kicking up our heels (err, sneaker wedges at this point) and draping ourselves over the velvet couch (and in front of the big-screen TV) after a looooong day of shopping. (Might I add, this hotel is impeccably quiet and the drapes are wonderful at keeping out the light, so we slept in until a whopping 9 a.m.!)

In fact, when we were just about to raid the mini bar, the bellhop who had brought up our packages asked if we needed anything. We forgot we had put out our "do not disturb" sign earlier in the day, so he immediately sent housekeeping to provide us with what we thought would be ice. Well...it was ice, plus a gorgeous helping of chocolate-covered strawberries. How's that for service?

Before bed, we took advantage of the enormous walk-in shower (probably one of the largest I've seen in a hotel), and ordered our breakfast for the next morning. Room service at the Rosewood Mansion is not to be missed (although they do have an award-winning restaurant that should be visited as well!). They set up an entire table and the food is delicious - I had scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and hashbrowns. The works! :) My mom and sister shared a basket of pastries that looked so yummy. We even piped in some classical music on the TV while we ate (it's all about the atmosphere). 

Despite it raining most of the trip, it didn't put a damper on anything, really. The valet always had our car ready to help us right in, and the staff was as friendly as ever. I'm soooo glad I got to take this small getaway (it's only about five hours from my home) and celebrate baby. I have a feeling once she gets here, she's gonna love Rosewood Mansion and one day we'll be living it up here as well. ;)

Thank you, Rosewood Mansion, we heart you to pieces! xoxo

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My Weekend at the Ritz

Every year, the girls in my family take a weekend shopping trip to Dallas, and this year I was especially excited. Why? Because we stayed at The Ritz-Carlton! For those of you who've stayed there over and over, ok, fine. But, as for me? I've never stayed at The Ritz and I'm not gonna lie about how much I squealed in the car on the road trip down. And nothing disappointed. I've stayed in a lot of hotels in Dallas (and loved many), but the service at The Ritz was by far the best. Impeccable. Everyone knew how to treat us and it felt like home (um, a really, really nice one at that - with lots of Louis Vuitton bags). So, I tried to take more photos than usual to really capture the essence of the weekend stay. The flowers below were the first thing we saw upon entry, if that tells you anything? The hotel was completely stunning - down to every last detail.

Here's a shot at our room with two queen beds. I have to say, I could've slept in this bed foreva, eva. (But, alas, my sister's phone buzzed at 8:30...love ya, G.) The bedding and pillows were incredibly soft (I do love me a feather bed), and we all agreed that we enjoyed every bit of our nine hours of sleep (total bliss for us moms!).

We wondered to the spa twice to check out the (you guessed it) shopping. While we didn't have any spa appointments (there's just not enough time in the day!), G. ended up buying a Lacoste polo shirt for just $30 and my mom found a really luxe yoga hoodie for $30 as well. I was amazed to see the shop carried Lululemon apparel (although none my size, sad face) and the cutest mini Melissa pink Mary Jane jellies. Swoon.

While were were in town, we stopped by Highland Park Village (honestly, because we can't get enough of Patrizio's Italian cuisine...), and we shopped a little in Tory Burch. Her store was having a great shoe sale, and I saw these stunners. Um, they weren't on sale, but that's beside the point! Isn't the bow detail cute??

I went crazy in Anthropologie as if we don't have one at home (we do). But, this location always seems to have exactly what I love - like these green polka-dot Stiletto jeans by Current Elliott and green Splendid top. I didn't even mean to pair the two together, but they ended up working, no? I bought them in a heartbeat.

 

G. and I were joking around in the hotel and wrote mom a little note while she was relaxing in the super-nice bathtub. We did end up waiting on mom and took the Bentley house car (I know, right?) to the downtown Neiman Marcus for more shopping. It's the original store, so I was curious to see it!

And here is "said" Bentley all shiny and new. It came complete with a chair massage and the best satellite radio. The leather seats were to die - and I must admit it was fun having folks stare and watch our grand exit. It did get pretty busy by the time we were finished shopping (who knew NM closed at 6?), so we had to wait longer than usual for someone to pick us up. And when we got back to the Ritz it was hopping like crazy (did I mention The Dave Matthews Band stayed there that night? We even caught a glimpse of the tour bus...). At 6 p.m., they have a "guacamologist" in the lobby with freshly mixed guacamole and chips with mini margaritas - complimentary. Lucky us!

Here are the mini cupcake sugar cookies I bought by Dylan's Candy Bar (a fav) at Neiman Marcus. Um, they're already all gone, haha. I def hated to eat them because they're so cute, but hey, someone had to, right? I did buy a sweet chiffon Ella Moss top as well and not just cookies, thanks.

We spent way too long in the Children's department swooning over items like these mini Stuart Weitzman shoes. They also had a mini grand piano marked with the words "Neiman Marcus" and a red toy Mercedes convertible. Oh, the life.

And while we didn't have time to eat a long dinner (shopping kept us soooo busy!), I must mention that Fearing's drew a crowd the entire time. I've heard it's amazing, so if you visit The Ritz, you should def try the restaurant just off the lobby. Instead of eating dinner at a decent hour (we waited until after shopping, duh), we drove over to NorthPark Center (my fav mall) to finish up our retail therapy for the evening. I ended up buying most everything for little C. (alas, Barneys wasn't having a shoe sale), including the cutest madras swim trunks from babyGap; board shorts and a sailboat tee from crewcuts and our beloved Hanna Andersson organic PJs. Oh, the life of a mom! :)

 

Before we checked out, I spent some time at the pool with G. and then made my morning coffee run to the gift shop (which serves gelato, by the way). These are the new bright orange shorts I bought at Anthropologie (in my own town), and I paired them with a navy Splendid top, Report wedges, my Minkoff mini MAC and piles of bracelets. Typical morning coffee run, no? I had to prep myself for the shopping to be done at TJ Maxx, where they have The Runway section of tons of amazing goodies. I scooped up a striped dress and hot pink mesh sweater by C&C California; a navy striped Vince tee I wanna live in for the rest of my life and a pair of luxe alice + olivia pinstripe jeans (and now I know why Stacey Bendet is known as "staceypants" - best. pants. ever.).

And here is the rooftop pool. It was nice and serene around 9:30 a.m., but when we stopped by the Saturday afternoon prior, wow, was it shaking. They serve tea and cucumber water, and you can order anything you want to eat or drink. Told you they had impeccable service.

And here's a view up at the Ritz from my seat by the pool. So pretty. If you happen to visit The Ritz-Carlton Dallas anytime soon, tell them I'll be back. Heart. that. place. And now? Back to reality...le sigh...

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Girl's Weekend at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel

Happy Friday, chicettes!! Yay, right? Not to downplay this weekend at all, but there's no way it can top last weekend for me. I went with my mom, sister and niece on our annual (girls only!) shopping spree in Dallas. Ok, yes, it was hot, but it was totally worth it. This year we stayed the fabulous Rosewood Crescent Hotel (Rosewoods are 10 stars in my book...). 

I'm pretty sure I Googled one time that Jay-Z stayed here once while on tour, so after that I knew it would be next on my list of hotels to try. I had walked inside on a past visit to the city, and the lobby (below) never seizes to impress me. It's just so gorgeous and there is plenty of room to rest on a couch with all those shopping bags, haha. One of my fav places to eat in New York is Nobu (mmm...sushi!!), so I was super-excited to find out our hotel had one at the foot of it. Bad news? We were officially WAY too tired to eat anywhere (someone should've cut me off waaaaay before Nordstrom), so we ended up ordering room service at 11 p.m. in our hotel room. But, let me say that I'm so glad we did because my avocado club sandwich was so delish (not to mention the sweet pickles they added on the side)!

Here's a photo of our hotel room (sorry, it was taken on my lovely iPhone, but you get the gist!)...it met all of our needs and provided me the best sleep I've had in a long time (I slept until 10 a.m., folks!). We had a really nice pool view and I snapped a shot of it, if you scroll down the page. I wanted to swim so, so bad, but it was either get my hair wet for the road trip home and then spend an hour drying it in the heat...or visit TJ Maxx. I chose the latter. Wink.

Here's a shot of the beautiful courtyard area...gorgeous, indeed. You can't even tell it was 100 degrees, can you? I love how this courtyard is just outside the back of the hotel and it - get this - connects to shops and restaurants. Squeal!!!! Yep, we had a blast.

The shopping area is home to the infamous Stanley Korshak as well its super-chic, contemporary counterpart, The Shak. Let me just say this place is ah-mazing! I would stay at The Crescent every time just to be closer to this store. Unfortunately, we hit it too close to closing time for me to find anything (I take forever to make up my mind!), but my niece and sister bought out the store. Ok, kidding. But they did find some really cute batwing tops and jeggings - on mega sale. 

I definitely didn't want to leave The Crescent, but leaving and knowing I'll probably be back again to spend all of my money made me feel ok with it. Next time I'm hitting the spa...

[Photos Courtesy Rosewood; I Heart Heels]

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Soniat House in New Orleans - Completely Charming

Yesterday I returned from what was my very first trip to New Orleans. I was in town to root for my team in the Sugar Bowl (which didn't work out so much...), and, of course, to shop my little heart out. I had even printed out Lucky Magazine's city guide to NOLA, but unfortch there just wasn't much time as we stayed just one night. I would definitely love to stay longer next time, but in the meantime, I want to let you in on what I did buy, and the charming little hotel we stayed in for one night. Soniat House.

Nestled in the French Quarter, Soniat House blew me away the minute I laid eyes on it. It was really and truly tucked away in the residential area (literally steps away from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's part-time abode...more on this next week), quiet and serene, which is just how I like it. So much better than the skyscrapers of the Hilton and Marriott. (love those to a point, but Soniat House was pure NOLA)

We pushed the call button at the front doors shown here and were immediately greeted by the bellhop, James. What a friendly man! I was taken by his kindness and hospitality as soon as we stepped inside the large doors as he showed us to the front desk and took our bags all the way to the third floor (up the steep, winding stairs, no less). D. and I proceeded to take the old-fashioned elevator to our room. And when I say, old-fashioned, I mean we had to use a key to start it, shut the door and step behind an accordion-style grate. WOW.


This is the "lobby" of the hotel, a cozy sitting area filled with a computer, fireplace , "Claire the Cat" and honor bar (which might I mention had everything from water to every fixing for a Cajun Bloody Mary - they ran out!).


Apparently Soniat House has been featured in Vogue - gasp! It's also one of the "Small Luxury Hotels of the World" (I was reading my hotel literature in the room, haha.) It's listed in the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die." Checking off my list...


This is the main entrance hallway. We felt like we were walking into another world when we entered. The elevator is just to the left of the front door.


The courtyard was gorgeous, and several people went to their rooms here. I just stood inside of it and gaped at it all - so, so pretty.


The steep staircase poor James had to climb with our luggage (trust me, my bag alone weighed like 1,000 pounds with three pairs of boots...insert bashful face.).


Our room had this lovely little fireplace, so we felt like we were at home.


Omigosh, and I squealed so loud when I saw the Molton Brown products in the bathtub - some of my favs.


The lamp in the bathroom gave it such ambiance, which was great because I def spent plenty of time in there applying make-up and blow-drying my hair.


The king-sized bed was a nice touch, and the pillows are still under investigation. I must have one now! Of course, after our long day of shopping, celeb stalking, game watching and late-night revelry anything might have felt good. (Cobblestones and heels don't mix...ouch!)

Thank you, Soniat House, for an amazing stay!


I'm going to, of course, write an entire post on my shopping experience. That's to come within the next couple of weeks. What I can tell you is the little boutique Hemline and I had a great time. That store had me at hello, and I bought the sweetest gold owl pendant (the jewelry was so amazing and affordable!), a cape-style top (my new fav style) and a pretty blue top that was only $35 or so. I refrained myself from the shoes...can you believe it?? But, trust me, if I would've had more time, those shoes would've been in...my...bag. Because they were def cute! I'm actually still kicking myself that I didn't buy the animal-print cardi by the register...le sigh.

I also stopped in Langford Market on our way out of town, but to be honest, I was just too tired and ran out of time. I hate shopping in a hurry! The shop had some really cute things though and I wish I could've taken the time to shop around (the only minus at this one? no shoes...).

P.S. Couple of funny things that happened while we were there? A random lady on the street eyed my Michael Kors wedges and said "You have shoes for later, right?"

Our Lily Tomlin-lookalike cab driver told us about Soniat House: "ohhhh, movie stars stay there."

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