Sunday, January 29, 2012

Snow + Stars + Sparkle

Happy New Year my sparklicious friends! 

I can't believe that the first month of 2012 is just about over.  Crazy.  Seriously, where does the time go?  I honestly haven't any idea.  So, I guess we just go with it.

Speaking of "going with it", I had the opportunity to go to the Sundance Film Festival with a group of girlfriends + the boyfriend earlier this month.

What an experience!  This wasn't my first time at Sundance (it was my 3rd).  But, I can say that this was the best of my 3 times there.  We were lucky enough to get ticket packages (so we had guaranteed movies to see), we rented a car & condo, and made dinner reservations in advance, all thanks to the amazing Nikki-Z.  She hooked us up and planned everything.  AMAZING.

What do snow, stars, and sparkle have in common?  Sundance, of course. 

I live in San Francisco.  We do not have snow here.  Seeing it fall from the sky is certainly a sight to see.  Apologies to those of you who currently or at sometime have lived in the snow.  It is still a novelty to me.  I like it.  It is pretty.  I like to revel in it.  However, I don't want to live in it.

I saw 12 movies in 5 days.  The boyfriend saw 13 movies, and the group of girlfriends saw 10.  It is work.  It is exhausting.  It is amazing.  It is addicting.  I can't wait to do it again!

The star factor - so, Park City is a very small town.  Stars are out and about, and if you pay attention, you'll see a ton of them, not just in the sky or on the screens. 

I saw Andie McDowell, Sharon Lawrence, Parker Posey, Natasha Bedingfield, Ice-T, Coco, Chuck D, Amanda Peet, not to mention all of the actors and directors in the movies we saw - Common, Dennis Haysbert, Edward James Olmos, Charles S. Dutton, a gigantic Danish body builder, and countless others. 

It was cool to see these people acting "normal" and interacting with "normal" people.

There were a ton of sparkles there too...  From the snow falling from the sky in clumps the size of nickles, to all of the twinkle lights on the gigantic trees, to my freshly painted toes.





Toes:  base coat - OPI Overexposed in Southbeach.  Top coat: Orly "Rock it" pink/purple sparkles.  I'm in love with this combo.  Love the sparkles in the sparkly snow!  Sadly, I had to keep my toe sparkles under wraps for the week, can't gallivant around in flip-flops when it is 10 degrees and snowing, or at least I can't.

After the almost-blizzard on Saturday (28" of snow fell), we had a gigantic icicle hanging off the side of our condo. 

I'd never really seen one up close.  It was amazing!

I was in awe of all of the patterns the ice made - absolutely love it.







I fell in love with these lights hanging in the entry of Chimayo (a restaurant we went to one night).  Super yummy Mexican / Southwestern food.

They kind of remind me of pictures of solar flares, or sea urchins.  They were so pretty hanging there.  So sparkly and pretty!








After 5 days of almost 3 movies each day, we were all ready to head home, but were equally sad to be leaving.  Park City is such a cool place (no pun intended), and we all wish we had a few extra days there.

Driving from the condo back into Salt Lake City, I snapped this pic of the mountains - simply stunning.





Equally as stunning was the view of San Francisco, our city by the bay, on our landing approach.  Even though I was sad to leave Park City, I was equally as glad to be landing safe and sound back home.

I hope you all had a little sparkle in your lives this new year so far...  If not, you've got a few more days to get some!

Until next time...  let the stars, sparkle, and snow bring a little shine into your life!