Happy Birthday Jules

Another year older...another year wiser? (Great photo, Matt!)

I was lucky to celebrate my birthday among friends at my favorite spot in Denver, Forest Room 5!

We started the evening at the Ale House at Amato's, a new brewery in Lo-Hi.

Hey look--Jenny and Casey are here with the crew, on their tour around the USA!!

We had a great dinner and made friends with the owner, the guy on the wall, Mr. Amato (not to be confused with Mr. Roboto).


Jax brought some specialty cupcakes, thanks to Tee and Cakes--ever tasted Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes??? Mmm, they are to die for--a fudgy chocolate icing on a maple cupcake with crunchy bacon strips on top! They were also featured on Unwrapped! :)


I also learned why this could be a year of change...

Not to worry if the page is a bit blank right now...haha

Later, we hopped down the road to Forest Room 5, where we sat on stumps in the garden, sipped on wine, and enjoyed the warm Spring air.

Say hell yeah for glowsticks!


and for friends,


and for brothers,

And for lamps acting like radio transmitters...



Thank you FRIENDS for celebrating with me and for sending your thoughts on Facebook! There's nothing like a friendly Happy Birthday message (or 60) at all hours of the day! It was fun to hear from everyone... :)

Yummy--bonus birthday Korean dinner with Jax and Dustin and Jax's Mom!!
And, Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms!

Thanks for making my day special.

1UP Bar

Remember the days when you got so psyched to get 1UPped? Well this bar just 1UPped a lot of them. Not that I was ever a huge gamer...okay, well, I WAS, when it came to the original Nintendo (and I still am), but I got to admit--I kinda dig the arcade themed bar. It was a fun change of pace...I mean, why sit around and talk talk talk when there are games to play--and plenty of 'em.

Like Giant Jenga!!!

Yes, it was totally taller than me...

Cheap beer + giant jenga = disaster
+ crowd = funny.

And who could forget one of the greatest games of all time: skee ball! How many youth birthday parties were crammed around a row of these! (Yes, at good ol' Chuckie Cheese).

And while I don't have much game left in terms of Pac Man, practice can only make perfect.

Don't forget to bring plenty of quarters!

Closing Day - Happy Easter

While some people spent Easter Sunday searching for eggs and eating a big family meal (and watching the special Easter episode of Unwrapped)...

Vail's Closing Day celebration went on in full force, which means...It was time to sport stylish gaper gear...

Hang out with friends...


slide around on snow...


and party at the top of Chair 4.



Thanks to the blizzard, it felt more like January than April,

and the season-end celebration was stunted, to some degree,

but the trow-down tradition lived on, a tribute to many great seasons of the past.


At the base, we said goodbye to our friends,

and had a long-awaited and well-deserved grill out!!!


See you next year!

A Day in the Park

Kylie and I had planned to spend the entire day in the park, but, well, our "day" quickly became more like an afternoon, which soon became a couple laps (and hiking). haha. No time for half-pipe and jumps today, and crappy weather for that, too, the boxes and rails are calling our names! How's that for a warm-up lap?


Gotta love those spring park sessions...

Who doesn't love to dance? Vail's posh bar and bowling alley, Bol, was the perfect place to celebrate Jayne's Annual 30th.


Friends gathered to knock back a few drinks and knock down a few pins.



Surprisingly, for a girl who used to have birthday bowling parties as a kid, my bowling technique could use some work. Note to self, bowling balls should not land mid-way down the lane in the gutter.

Happy Annual 30th, Jayne!


The fun continued at the Ski School Luau the following day...


Cheers, friends!

Special to Metromix: Four days of film and fun begins in snowy Vail

Four days of film and fun begins in snowy Vail
By Juliana Broste
Special to Metromix
Published on Metromix.com on March 31, 2011

Click here to check out the online photo album: http://denver.metromix.com/events/essay_photo_gallery/vail-film-festival-2011/2536619/content