Ritzy

Friday, July 20th at 12:30am a horrible act of violence occurred in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater by the Aurora mall.  When I learned the news on Friday morning I was literally sick and my thoughts instantly went to friends and family.  I was so relieved to learn that no one I know was in that theater that night.  I appreciated the texts, phone calls, and e-mails asking about my well being.  I loved FB and how quickly news spread of everyone’s safety.  My heart aches for the family and friends of the 12 who were killed, for the 58 injured, and for all who were at the theater that night who will continue to live that nightmare.  I have been to that theater several times and it really hit home how bad things can happen to anyone, at anytime.  On the other hand, when tragedies like this occur it gives me hope to hear all the stories of the courageous heroes and I realize there are still a lot of good people in this world.  I don’t know what the shooter’s motives were, nor do I care, but I do think the only thing he accomplished by this horrific act is to restore faith in humanity and unite a community.  It is my hope that this is the memory that will live on and not the “who” or the “how” surrounding the evil that ran rampant that night.

Now on to a little lighter topic…

I could easily get accustomed to the life of luxury… I do like nice things! This past weekend was my company annual recharge event.  This year the recharge was held in Beaver Creek, CO and they put us up in the Ritz Carlton.  Nice! I invited my friend, Heather, to come with me.  So, I picked her up from work and we got on the road at 11am on Friday.  We arrived with enough time to check in and put our stuff in our room before boarding the bus for the challenge event.  I felt like I was on a reality TV show where you have no idea what you would be doing or where you were going, but you were told to be in a certain place at a certain time.  Come to find out our challenge this year was based off the TV show “Top Shots” (which I have never seen).  Anyway, we were divided into teams and had 7 different stations to rotate through.  Each station involved a weapon of some kind... shotguns, pistols, bow & arrows, blow darts, bull riding, and a paintball gun. 

It was a lot of fun and I had a great team! Turns out the Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies took 1^st place with 116 points!!! Go us!! The second place came in at 92 points or somewhere around there, so we did great! The best part is, it pays to be competitive and have some skill on your team since Heather and I each won $125.00.  Got to love that!

1st Place 

After the festivities on Friday we headed back to the hotel and Heather and I sat out on our balcony and had a wonderful visit for probably 3 solid hours.  I loved many things about the weekend, but I think my favorite part was enjoying the crisp mountain air and fabulous conversation with a great friend.  I feel so lucky to have so many amazing people in my life! 

 

 

Saturday was completely open to do as we wished.  In our welcome packet we received $75.00 for me and $75.00 for Heather to use however we wanted.  Got to love that! We didn’t have any set plans so we just played it by ear and went with the flow! We started the day off by playing some tennis on a clay court.  I’ve never played on clay before, and I can say it was not my favorite! It was still fun to play and I felt like playing at a tennis club was a very Ritzy thing to do! 

We wandered around Beaver Creek village and did a little shopping after getting ready for the day.  Then we met up with a co-worker and his wife and played some Frisbee golf.  Frisbee was a lot more intense than I expected it to be.  I guess I wasn’t thinking we would literally hike a mountain, stroll through mud, and roam through the trees and tall grass looking for our Frisbees (or the hole for that matter)!  I definitely wore the wrong shoes! It was a lot of fun and I even got par on a few holes so that made me happy.  I also learned that there are various types of discs… driver, midway, and putter.  Who knew?? 

After Frisbee we had a couple hours to relax before heading down to dinner, so we watched a Netflix movie, “Thor”.  Not one I will ever see again, but a good action and not have to think kind of a show.

We met up with some co-workers for dinner at a restaurant located in the hotel.  I think 6 young kids completely stood out in this ritzy restaurant.  The menu was rather small which made my choice really easy since there was only one thing listed that I would eat… NY steak! It was delicious and I was pleasantly surprised since typically the more expensive the restaurant, the less likely I am to actually enjoy the food! We put our $75 dollars towards dinner and that did not even cover the entire bill – expensive! It was fun to simply sign the check as Room 323! I felt very high-class doing that!

We went from living the good life to watching an episode of “Hoarders” and quickly realized that even living a normal life is a huge step up from how these people live.  So crazy!

So, our vacation came to an end since we had to leave at 7am Sunday morning so I could go to the airport.  We went straight from Beaver Creek to the airport so I could catch my flight to D.C.  So, that is where I am now.  I checked out of the Ritz Carlton on Sunday morning and checked into the Marriott Sunday evening.  I am in DC attending a conference until tomorrow.  Living the good life, huh? Actually, I find it rather lonely and I am so looking forward to being home and not living out of a suitcase anymore. So, while it is fun to pretend and live the glamorous life for a weekend, I think I prefer my normal life with my own bed!