Happy Friday ladies! I’m excited to start posting again on Fridays. I’m thinking that this is where “Life Lately” or more personal posts will live and then we can keep the fashion and beauty content to Mondays and Wednesdays. Let me know what you think of this arrangement.
And on the topic of Life Lately…
Most of you probably know that last month my husband and I went to Europe for a couple weeks. Right after we arrived back home, did all the laundry, and got back on Pacific Standard time, we then turned around and headed to Montana for the weekend.
We went to Bozeman, MT to celebrate Montana State University’s 125th Homecoming weekend. My husband is an alumni, his brothers were students there, his cousin currently a student there, and his sister is planning on attending in the fall. So there are plenty of family ties to the place.
You saw a lot of snow in that first picture but let me just say that it wasn’t supposed to snow like that at all. We arrived Friday night and it was chilly but there was no snow. The folks who checked us into our hotel said there had been flurries in the morning but everything had melted by mid-morning. Saturday morning we woke up to my definition of a blizzard (my Montana man husband begs to differ). Did either of us bring snow boots? Nope. Did we bring snow pants? Nope. We hadn’t expected the quantity of snow so we almost didn’t even bring our heavier winter coats!
When Andrew’s sister came to pick us up after breakfast, she also didn’t have any of her normal winter gear. Not an ice scraper for her car, not a heavy coat, no boots so we all headed straight to REI to sort out our situation. We ended up only getting some hand/foot warmers and some boots for Andrew. My boots were waterproof and my sister in law had extra layers plus an extra pair of boots in her car in case one pair soaked through (which they did) so we thought we could deal. (spoiler alert: I couldn’t)
After our little pit stop, we headed off to watch the Homecoming Parade. Have you ever seen a parade in the snow? It was both the coldest and funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Watching the marching band play with plastic bags over their instruments, the dance team slipping and sliding around, it was all too comical.
What was not as comical, at least to me (my husband and his sister found it hilarious), I’m so pregnant that my winter coat no longer zips closed. I had two buttons that were able to close as long as I didn’t sit down or move my arms too much. But needless to say, anytime I sat down those buttons busted open to much laughter at my expense.
After the parade, we reheated ourselves with coffee and second breakfast at the Co-Op on Main street. If you ever find yourself in downtown Bozeman, Montana, the Co-Op was a great spot for healthy hearty food. Andrew and I had breakfast burritos and my sister in law had a hot sandwich all made to order. From there it was off to campus and the main reason for our time there, the Homecoming Game.
To say that we were under dressed for the game is putting it mildly. By this point in the day, it had snowed about 5-6 inches and was still coming down. Most people in our section were wearing snow gear and looked like they were set for a day of skiing. Snow pants, boots, coats, hats, goggles, the whole look. We had blankets so we bundled the best we could, stuck on our hand and foot warmers, and hoped for the best. We made it to the fourth quarter before I was shaking and had to call it.
After heading to the hotel to reheat and take a nap, we regrouped with my sister in law (who had ditched us oldies to tailgate with her friends) for dinner. We ended up at Torro, a Mexican spot off Main street that looked like a really fun bar. As a vegetarian, I can’t say I recommend the place on merit of food as there weren’t that many options without meat but we all agreed that the food was good overall and the atmosphere was fun. By this point I was exhausted partly from all the cold, partly because that’s just my constant state of being these days so I crashed back at the hotel while Andrew, his sister, and cousin spent some time in the hotel pool and hot tub.
Sunday dawned with partly sunny skies and no more snow! Granted there was still plenty on the ground but at least more wasn’t falling from the sky. We met up with Andrew’s sister again for a campus tour (and plenty of reminiscing on Andrew’s part) followed up by breakfast at Clark’s Fork. It was delicious and an overall good time just sitting and chatting together.
After that, Andrew’s sister dropped us off on campus again where we hung out for a while before going to see the MSU Jazz Band performance. We’d heard that they’d be performing after an announcement at the football game and it was a great performance. Afterwards we headed back to the airport for our flight home.
Overall, it was a really nice weekend but I am happy to stay home for the next several weeks. Without time to prep/set up for the work week ahead, I generally am a little frazzled until I can get all my ducks in a row.
I hope you have a great weekend and get to go enjoy some fun fall activities
xo – Ana Luiza
