How to Get Cold Fast and Hurt for the Rest of the Day

Snow skiing. Taos has been very relaxing and fun until today when I tortured myself in the name of... fun? But, before I get to that, I learned a few lessons yesterday:

1. Sperry's (aka boat shoes) are meant for warm weather and water, not cold weather and snow. Even when you wear socks with them, your toes still go numb.

2. Best-Friend-Who-Really-Needs-A-Catchy-Nickname-Before-I-Take-Him- OH! I think I thought of one! I'll have to ask him what he thinks about it.

2a. I got distracted. Anyway, the same best friend I'm on this trip with and I took a cooking class with his aunt and uncle last night at the house of this chef friend of theirs. We made pizza from scratch with fresh, homegrown ingredients and it was all so so so delicious! Mine was the best (naturally) but they were all very good. Delivery pizza can SUCK IT! 

3. I finally watched the new Gossip Girl. (It's my guilty pleasure.) I'm so glad it's back. It makes me happy.

So, onto today's adventure! Said best friend I'm vacationing with and I took a ski lesson. Six hours total with about an hour and a half break in between. I spent the first three hours re-wiring my brain to ski on snow rather than my beloved water. The last three included me going too fast for my instructor's liking and almost plowing into a few kids who had decided that wandering into my path of destruction was a good idea. Going fast was the best time I had on the mountain! However, I did win the award for most time spent on my ass and face. I fell a lot. By the sixth hour, my body was telling me that I'd be severely punished for putting it through such an ordeal. My shins are bruised all over from the rental boots, my hand started shaking while picking up my glass of water at dinner, and the rest of my body is just giving me the middle finger. I'm exhausted.

Today's lessons learned:

1. I don't think I vacation very well. Vacation activities that are supposed to be relaxing, i.e. skiing, are not. 

2. I do think I would enjoy skiing a lot if I lived close to a ski resort and had the time to devote to learning how to do it. But, alas, I do not. So, therefore, the beach is better than the mountains. For now at least.

3. Every time I see a field or patch or hill with beautiful, pure, untouched snow, I want to go out there and stomp around in it. Does that say something about my personality?