stratton Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Preppy Runner

After a long day of skiing, it was time to kick back and celebrate my 28th birthday.

Three years ago, I definitely was in the throes of a quarter-life crisis. I was NOT OKAY turning 25. I had just left my job, I was single, I was unhappy with how I looked and just overall, not a happy girl. I ended up moving home for a few months and then moving into NYC a few months later, where I eventually turned my life around.

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From my 25th birthday.

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From my 26th birthday–the weekend before I finally decided to get my weight loss act in gear.

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From my 27th birthday.

This weekend, I’m spending my weekend being active and I’m surrounded by a bunch of healthy living bloggers with healthy attitudes.

And who take pictures of each other taking pictures. (Hi Leslie!)

And eat lots of veggies.

Leslie, Lauren and I decided to supervise the cooking. With 17 people in this house, there’s definitely such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. (Ashley was actually cooking but pretended to supervise with us.)

With all this food, I decided to go for a bit of each: shrimp pasta, made by Melissa, baked ziti with sausage, roasted veggies and Caesar salad.

It was maybe a little too much fun for Leslie.

And then there was birthday cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Photo of me via Meghann!)

And ice cream.

It was quite the fabulous birthday. Thanks to everyone here for making it such a special day, to everyone who commented/tweeted/wished me a happy birthday on Facebook, and of course to my parents.

(There will be more celebrating next week, of course!)

TIME TO SKI!

Yesterday I woke up almost as excited as if were Christmas.

Which makes sense, considering it was my birthday! And that I was about to go skiing. I actually haven’t skiied since I started this blog, but growing up, I went on a ski vacation with my parents every year. My dad went to college in Montana, and when he moved back to NJ after college, he brought with him a love for skiing that he passed on to me. He taught me the ropes in Vermont as a kid, but as soon as he thought I was ready, we started going to Colorado every year. Our favorites were Breckenridge and Beaver Creek/Vail.

Anyway. The birthday girl went for a bagel with half cream cheese and half Barney Butter to fuel for a long day of skiing.

By the time we go to the mountain, it was around 9. Since I’d lost so much weight, my dad suggested I get my bindings checked on my skis–part of how they configure the binding settings is based on weight. By 9:30, I was ready to go.

Having skiied so much out west growing up, I’m definitely a little bit of a ski snob. East Coast skiing is notoriously icy, and I was a little nervous for the conditions. I was wrong! The conditions in the morning were gorgeous, and I felt like I was back in Colorado. I was a little nervous that I’d forgotten how to ski, too, but it all came right back.