Birthday Gifts

For those who didn't know, I turned a quarter of a century on Saturday...the big 25. I can now rent cars without paying the extra fee. I think turning 25 is like the last "landmark" before the dreaded 30. Yikes...onto a much brighter side of getting older...

Let's just say that my wonderful boyfriend knows exactly what I need/want. He woke me up in the morning with a ceiling covered in balloons, a homemade cake, and presents on the table. So cute. The first gift I opened was a garlic press. David always likes to get me weird kitchen gadgets as part of my birthday and Christmas gifts. For Christmas I got a pastry cutter. As funny as it may be, all of the gadgets have come in handy for me :)

Next I opened a box with cords inside. Really helpful. Cords to what? I didn't know at the time. Much to my surprise, when I opened the last gift, it was a White Lightning 1600 studio flash! So stoked! I've been talking about getting a bigger and better flash than my little Vivitars for a while now and I'm super stoked. This thing really puts out some serious light! I'm sure I'll get lots of opportunities to play with it...at least now if I do get booked on something, I can have gear that I'm not embarrassed about!

My new flash!

Stoked on my new toy :)

Then we went up to the Pass and snowboarded. It wasn't quite as awesome as the day before, but I know it's a good year when I get to snowboard on May 8th. Later we met with friends for dinner at Rendezvous Bistro. Damn that food was good. They were even having 2 for 1 entrees, so I could actually joy my dinner without worrying about the price. I had duck confit and David had this ridiculous pork dish that was cooked in coconut milk. Can't go wrong with that! I highly recommend checking that place out if you are ever in JH. Later we went and enjoyed the typical debauchery of a Saturday night in Jackson. Happy hour at the Caddy, then off to the Tavern for some dancing to some horribly mixed 80s music infused with top 40. Yuck. The people watching is always fun though :)

Yesterday I had my first taste of JH summer. The sun was in and out and my neighbors were drinking cocktails up on their deck. They invited us up and we had a blast just chatting and soaking up the sun. I never even knew my neighbors were so cool! We live in an apartment building with only four units, so it would be awesome if everyone got to know each other. Anyway, we grilled up some steak and just enjoyed the rest of the evening. Fun stuff. It definitely got me excited for summer.

Today I decided to go for a hike. The dark clouds seemed far enough away so that I could finish it and not get rained on. I hiked up Crystal Butte, which is just a hop and a skip away from my front door. I saw two deer and a fox. I guess that's Jackson for you!

Deer.

I don't really want to know how this happened...

Whew! What a great hike, and what a rewarding view!

Looking up at Crystal Butte.

Last but not least, remember the sweet day of snowboarding I was raving about on Friday? Well, David put that day into video form, so I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Teton Pass May 7 from David Duffy on Vimeo.