it came time that i have been living this small town life for a little too long....so my room-mate amanda and i decided to get the hell outta town for a while....
Monday night after work we just packed our stuff...picking up a last minute addition to the trip in the form of an ozzie...and left mammoth for two blessed days..
a 6 hour trip later and we arrive in LA to stay with Amanda parents in Rendondo...
the entire trip pretty much revolved around eating...the time in between was merely activities before the next meal/snack...
our first stop of the morning was "the mall"...where i scoured every...and i mean EVERY shoe shop in the place..i am soo fucken picky!...i finally found a sweet pair of circa's for a measley $45...i love how cheap everything is here!
after other assorted purchases of equally cheaply priced wares we moved on to 'target' or "targaae" (this was a fancy one)...it is kind of like Kmart....here totally rediculously priced wares was oggled over...i mean a sandwich grill for $10!! and the george foreman for only 15!! what the hell is going on here!
we had lunch at one of the most amazing little hole-in-the-wall mexican cafes...'Los Muchacos' in Hermosa beach...ohh yeah and the weather was a balmy mid-winter 26 DEGREES!!!!!....how good was it to wear jandals and a t-shirt outside and actually feel the warmth of the sun!...
we went for a wander down the pier and it was totally disorienting watching people playing beach volleyball in bikinis *it could have been summer*
We then made the trip down to 'Mountain High' LA's closest ski resort...as if we dont get enough of the snow at home:)....for some night riding...it has made me appreciate the conditions at mammoth a whole lot more...it was icy as fuck...a solid layer of ice with a bit of powder on top!....5hours later and the car trip home we had worked up and appetite for the famous in southern california 'In and Out burger'...a double cheese burger "animal-style"...this is pretty much half a cow with everything.....and fries...i most definitely was carrying a food baby after that!...but suprisingly sooooo good...the vegan diet is impossible to stick too...the fatty takeaway delights are too good to resist...
Wednesday dawned a 'cold' 22 degrees....and we thought it the perfect opportunity to visit the 'international house of pancakes'...all you can eat pancakes and a cooked brekkie for $6!!...i was soo full *i saw all-you-can-eat- and it was all over*

in my apartment of 6 girls, in the last 2 days we have had: one move home....bye sara...back to Wisconsin...and one get evicted...oops-a daisy michelle.....
so now we are down to just the 4 and are taking bets on how many days it will take for new roomies to move in...my pick is mon or tue...there is a pretty quick turn-around in employee housing....
Amanda and i are taking a road trip down to LA tomorrow night to visit her friends and generally just get the hell outta mammoth for a bit...im totally looking forward to the change of scenery and mostly the change of temperature...-13 the other night and winter is just getting into the swing of things

so last night was one of the boys from next door's 21st...and needless to say it got well messy...the birthday boy had spewed and passed out by 9 and pretty much everone else was soo intoxicated, myself included, that im not sure how much anyone remembers, myself included:)
It made for the most painfully hungova day i have experienced in a LONG while!!...2hrs sleep and making it to work at 7:30am...*yay* why did i sign up for this all over again!...i tell you it is pretty hard to be nice to the guests when in such pain...

so today was my third day out riding....the girls and i made the 30 minute trip north to our sister mountain, June, for the day....it was absolute bliss after the crazy numbers of people that have been coming through mammoth every day June was heaven...there was hardly anyone on the hill..and those that were there were pretty much all employees..NOT tourists!!
the girls were very patient with me and i feel i have improved a lot in just the one day....i can link my turns and not fall over...well mostly....
i was going great for most of the day but once i got tired it was all over...and by jesus i have sore muscles i didnt even know existed....
but its great to finally be out on the slopes, it has been pretty frustrating being here for a month...*holy that went fast!*...and not being able to ride...it seemed pretty pointless living in a ski resort and never being able to ski!..
that is most definitely going to change now...unfortunately the more time i get to ride means the smaller my paycheck is every week...

so i got off work to take a lesson *finally*...and sucked it up and took the novice class...seen as how my first lesson was about 3wks ago i wasnt sure how much i remembered..so the start of the lesson was a little bumpy...but i got the hang of it pretty fast and an hour into it i was going down blue runs!!..(thats 1 up from begginner)...i am pretty happy with the progress i made and it was a perfect day out: powder, sun and best of all NO LIFT LINES!...(one of the main reasons i havent been out for a while)
it is sooo exhuasting and i spent the afternoon back at work pretty tired....i am confident that i will have some bruises showing up in the morning....but all in all it was a blast....

ohhh yeah....the guy who played the crazy skin obsessed dude in 'silence of the lambs' came in to work yesterday....he talks exactly the way he does in the movie in real life...my first celebrity encounter!

its sad but true...we made a trip down to the closest "larger" town to buy neccesities... mammoth is just to small and touristy to cater for buying things like a pillow... therefore sarah, amanda and i made a trip out of the 1/2 hour drive to Bishop to go to the big K...Kmart!
ahhh a girls shopping trip to buy thermal underwear, bedding and electronic goods....and the highlight of the trip...dinner at burger king...yup this was a treat you cant find in little ol mammoth lakes...
i have created a second blog for photos...danaemoonpics@blogspot...
hopefully there will be more interesting ones to add when i get some real time off after the weekend....i know im always promising but fingers crossed huh?

holy mother of god...we got 7 feet of fresh snow overnight and today and it is still snowing lightly, ie probably another foot will fall tonight...this is fucken insane...walked out my front door this morning into waist deep powder!!!...

so even though my xmas wasn't as white as it could be my new year is snowed in!!!!
i have been sent home early from work the past two days because we are having a series of HUGE arse storms so the mountain has been closed....it has been soo busy still though..we had the busiest day on the mountain in over 20years on thursday there was over 25000ppl on the mountain at any one time...and thats only the people scanned up the lift, not the total number in town by any means....there are so many dumb californians who come all the way up here for their ski holiday and don't think to check the weather....duh!...i am feeling like a local now...i get angry with all the dumb tourists at the supermarket, on the bus, basically everywhere...
so happy 2006 everybody...its gonna be a painful sunday morning...like i said we were sent home early so i have been drinking for some time already....