Stranger in a Strange Land: Skis and Motorcycles = A Random Combination...

Happy Groundhog Day! Wow... I can't believe it's already February!! Why is it that time always seems to fly by the fastest, when you're wishing for the exact opposite?! For instance, Brian and I only have about 6 more months left of living here in Germany... And, we're trying to pack as much into those 6 months as humanly possible! :) And with the way time is flying by, we'll be back in the U.S. in the blink of an eye... We're just hoping that it'll slow down enough so that we can truly enjoy all of these wonderful experiences and time with friends that we've been blessed with over here...

Speaking of wonderful experiences, we were able to head back to Schruns for another fun-filled day of skiing last Saturday... Yay! The weather was great, blue skies and sunshine, and the skiing conditions were pretty good as well (although the week before was a little better in my opinion)... All in all, it made for a fabulous day of skiing! :) I even found myself a little more relaxed this time around... I actually went down a red run (intermediate slope) with no fear or problems (well, minus the one wipe out which I had to do in order not to take out a small child next to me! :)), and when I reached the bottom is when I realized my accomplishment! :) (For those of you that don't already know, my favorite type of skiing consists of going down the easy slopes, rather slow and very controlled! :) Typically, I never attempt going down any slopes that are rated higher than "easy"! :) So, a red slope for me is quite a big deal!) Who knows... Based on that experience, if I continue skiing every week, I may just be able to get down the easy slope at a faster rate by the end of the season... And by faster rate, I mean instead of taking 30 minutes to get to the bottom, it might only take me 25! :) Baby steps... :)

After our day of skiing on Saturday, we opted to stay indoors on Sunday and head to the Motorradwelt (Motorcycle show) at the Messe... We went to it last year, and we decided to head back again this year to see what they had to offer. Plus, Brian was ready for a motorcycle fix... He really misses his! :) So, we spent the afternoon looking at motorcycles and watching some of the demonstrations... Brian and Maciej were totally enthralled by all the bikes!! I, on the other hand, found it interesting for the first hour, and then for the remaining time I wandered around aimlessly looking at all of the clothes and motorcycle gear they were selling there... Go figure! :) I did manage to find myself a very cute pink helmet... Which I did not end up getting as Brian just laughed at me when I said that I "needed" it because it matched my pink motorcycle jacket! :) Can you tell where my priorities are?! :)

Overall, it was a great weekend! Although, as always, it went by way too fast! :) On that note, I'm off to the gym... I hope you all have a happy Groundhog Day... Let's hope that Punxatawney Phil doesn't see his shadow this year... I'm ready for spring! :) But, judging by the weather forecasts we've seen for the U.S. today, I'm thinking that with that amount of snow, Punxatawney Phil might just stay underground! :) For those of you that are involved in the Snowpacalypse (the media has turned this into such a hype... ridiculous!)... Stay warm, stay off the roads, and stay safe! :)

A perfect day for skiing! :)

Brian and I heading up on the lift... Yep, we literally took a picture of our shadows! :)

Passing by the avalanche barriers...

The two of us getting ready for another fun-filled day of skiing in the Alps... :)

Brian and Maciej getting ready to hit the slopes...

Brian actually took his camera with him this time around, so he was able to get some good action shots of Maciej and I skiing... Unfortunately, since he's the one behind the lens, he didn't get too many of himself. :( And, being that I'm not the most confident skier in the world, I had a hard time offering to ski down the hill ahead of Brian, with all of the camera equipment strapped to my back, so that I could get some action shots of him... If that were to happen, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be much of a camera left to even take pictures once I reached the bottom of the hill! :) I don't quite trust myself on skies all that much! :)

On another note, I'm quite impressed with this picture Brian captured of me skiing! :) It makes me look like I've got some good speed going on... When in reality, I ski so slow that I could probably walk down the slope faster... Well, not exactly that slow, but you get the point! :)