Episode 6: From Scavenger Hunts to Whoville Hikes - Unique Holiday Traditions in COS You May Not Have Heard Of
A holiday scavenger hunt. A Whoville hike. Holiday beer pong. Unique party ideas. Alternatives to Christmas cards.
These topics just skim the surface of this highly entertaining episode!
Hosts Carly Ries and Lauren Ferrara are joined by guest, Bonnie Goff (co-owner of Core Collective), to explore the festive spirit of Colorado Springs during the holiday season. They share personal holiday traditions, unique activities, and local events that bring the community together. The conversation highlights the joy of celebrating with family and friends while discovering the hidden gems of the city.
PICKS OF THE WEEK
Bonnie: Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort: Breakfast With Santa and Holiday Market
Lauren: Bear Creek By Candle Light at Bear Creek Nature Center
Carly: The Holiday Evening at Rockledge Ranch
MISC MENTIONS
Mill Hill
AWESOME SPONSOR ALERT
We are thrilled to have Core Collective as our very first sponsor!! Pilates is a great way to improve your physical and mental health. Their classes are designed to help you build strength and flexibility, improve your posture and mental health, and reduce stress. On top of that, they're offering one heck of a deal!
If you use the code SPRINGSANDTHINGS, you can get 3 classes for $30 now through the end of 2024! Head to corecollectiveCOS.com to get this offer!
Episode Transcript
Carly Ries: I mean, should we start this episode with, like, jingle bells or something?
Lauren Ferrara: I I was going with it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Oh. But, you know, jingle bells it is.
Carly Ries: Is that your default Christmas song?
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. Well, you know what? I it was in my brain today because I was watching these old videos, of my kids on the holidays.
Carly Ries: Yeah.
Lauren Ferrara: Because I have every month of their life recorded, basically. Everyone does. Everyone does. And our last holiday one was set to it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. So that's where that came from.
Carly Ries: And now I'm gonna be seeing
Lauren Ferrara: it in my head for, like, weeks.
Carly Ries: My default well, in SYNC's merry Christmas, happy holidays. When I was a kid, I was like, oh, so into NSYNC. This is awesome. Luckily, it's now transitioned to You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.
Lauren Ferrara: Cute. We listened to a lot of
Carly Ries: pop Christmas in our house, if you can't tell. So yeah. So well played with the the, like, traditional one. I like it. Yeah.
Lauren Ferrara: And
Carly Ries: with that being said, everybody, welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where 2 close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs. From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we've got it covered. I am Carly Reiss.
Lauren Ferrara: And I'm Lauren Ferrara. We'll sip our coffee and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. So whether you're a local or you're just passing through, we hope our fun, lighthearted, and entertaining take will keep you coming back for more. The holidays are upon us. They're upon us.
Carly Ries: And a few weeks ago, I we talked about, like, it's too early for the holidays. But, man, now they hit they're here.
Bonnie Goff: Ready?
Carly Ries: Like, let's do this. I am all
Lauren Ferrara: in. Bring it on. Bring on the hot cocoa, the snowmen, the scarfs, the works. I'm so excited. Well, and I'm super excited.
So we're talking about holiday traditions during this episode, and there's so many just cool things happening in Colorado Springs right now, and so many cool things that all of our friends are doing. With that said, Bonnie Goff is joining us now. She's the co owner of Core Collective, also a Colorado Springs native.
Bonnie Goff: That's right. Hi, girls.
Lauren Ferrara: So good
Bonnie Goff: to be here.
Lauren Ferrara: Thanks for coming. So when we were talking about this episode over coffee with you, you kind of blew us away with your holiday traditions, and we were like, that sounds really
Carly Ries: fun. Because we all do something unique. I mean, we have the things around town that we'll get to, but just hearing what what everybody does in their own families is so cool. And I don't know if I mean, you're kind of in the Frozen movie phase, but there's a spin off of Frozen where Anna and Elsa don't have a tradition. And so Olaf, like, goes around looking for it and it's like, oh, we can all learn from each other.
Like, let's all take each other's traditions and find what works for us.
Lauren Ferrara: Yes.
Bonnie Goff: So I still have to admit this, I've never seen Frozen. I you the you all should see their faces right now. They're, like, utterance.
Lauren Ferrara: So my kids have been mostly over Frozen for a while, but then it made a comeback because there was Frozen the musical that was at the Denver Center For Performing Arts. So Yeah.
Carly Ries: When I was talking about Frozen, I wasn't talking about my kids. I was talking about You.
Speaker 4: Oh, no. I'm just saying but
Carly Ries: that was such a good show that it kinda sticks with you. But I do remember when they were in that phase Yeah. There was that spin off. Anyway Yeah. I digress.
One of the reasons we wanted Bonnie on today is because you have such cool traditions that you do with your family and your friends. Take it away. I want you to share with everybody.
Bonnie Goff: It's so funny. I'm actually, like you, so excited for the next, like, couple weeks because all of the kids I'm in such a different place, like, all of us have kids in college. And so when we when we started doing these traditions, we had to, like, figure out something that we could keep them engaged. And so hands down, one of my favorite things to do, and you don't even have to live in Colorado Springs to do this, but we do a scavenger hunt. And, basically, we print off a sheet that's, like, find a blow up Snoopy with a Santa hat, and, all of these different fun things that they have to go around and find.
We go to a friend's house, we split into teams, like, totally random. You don't even get your own kids sometimes. Sometimes you have a car full of somebody else's kids, and you drive around Colorado Springs like a maniac for an hour trying to find all of these things on the scavenger hunt, where then the kids have to pile out of the car, take a picture, pile back in the car, and then get back to the house first.
Carly Ries: Have you gotten weird looks from, like, residences who was like, who's riding my Snoopy?
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. Oh my gosh. We actually
Bonnie Goff: got to a point, especially, like, during COVID where we're, like, don't go in their yard. Just kind of do, like, a far distant selfie thing because we don't wanna get shot or, like, not that you would get shot in color strings, but I'm just saying, like, you just don't wanna, you know Yeah. Really make somebody mad and you we so we we try to be very respectful with it, but, oh, it is so much fun. And there's always they're always in Susan argument about who got to, you know, the Jesus on the train first or who, you know, identified this inappropriately and so you're just it's the funniest thing and then we just we go back and we, do chili and all hang out and it's kind of, like, just this great gathering of these kids that have been together since they were really little. And now that they're in college, they still wanna do this.
Like, it's scheduled and it's ready and nobody's missing it. Like, we plan this in advance so everyone can make it.
Lauren Ferrara: So what's the weirdest, item on the list that you actually successfully found and you were surprised by?
Bonnie Goff: You know, it's funny because there's always this one thing that is, like, a resounding theme across town. So, like, 1 year it'll be all Mickey Mouses, and it's, like, impossible to find a, you know, a toy soldier. Or the next year, it'll be, like, crazy, you know, Santas. Like, Santa has just taken over. But we were able to find a Shrek.
That was a blow up Christmas Shrek. Like, I don't know where one buys a blow up Christmas Shrek, but that was on the list and we actually were able to find it. So that was probably the weirdest one.
Speaker 4: I feel
Lauren Ferrara: like that's something you find at Home Depot, like, the day after Christmas on 90 percent off.
Carly Ries: You know what I you know my prediction for the theme this year that you were saying? Bluey. I feel like Costco has bluey inflatables right now. Home Depot, I think, has blue inflatables. I've already seen some houses with it.
I think that's gonna be kind of the the new kid on the block.
Lauren Ferrara: You're giving Bonnie an edge for she'll know where to go. Yeah.
Bonnie Goff: I'm gonna actually have to, like, research this because, again, I have a kid in college.
Lauren Ferrara: I have no idea who you're talking about.
Carly Ries: Costco, it's Costco's, like, big display right now. It's this bluey Christmas. So, yes, research it because I think that that's gonna be
Bonnie Goff: on our
Carly Ries: list thing for this year.
Bonnie Goff: And you can just literally go on the Internet and type in, Christmas light or Christmas scavenger hunt, and thousands of lists pull up. So you don't even have to put that much effort into it, which is really cool. You just print it out and hand it off to everybody and out the door they go.
Carly Ries: I think I
Lauren Ferrara: might do that one this year.
Carly Ries: I'm such a sucker for it. We actually used to do it for New Year's Eve when I was growing up. And when I say we, I mean me. I put this whole thing together when I was in high school. Do you guys remember the show Viva La Bam?
Like, with Bam or Jara on MTV.
Bonnie Goff: Yeah. Where they did terrible things
Carly Ries: to each other. Terrible things. Yeah. It was like jackass, but like a spin off. He did a scavenger hunt in one episode, and my 16 year old self was like, that's a great idea.
And so we did it with our we had, like, friends proposing to each other in King Soopers over the intercom, like, just those again, 16 years old, but it was so fun and the laughs and the memories, I still remember so many things to this day from those. Like, I just love that you guys do this. Is there a prize?
Bonnie Goff: Oh, absolutely. There's always a prize. If they're always different, usually the hostess is the person who comes up with the prize and, she always just puts together, like, the kids, you know, obviously love Dutch, and so there's always usually some Dutch Bros, gift cards, and then, bottles of wines for moms, and, you know, so there's just, like, silly little things. It's it's really more about the glory than the prize of saying that you won the scavenger hunt. And then that's why we have to do randomized drawing to see who goes in the cars because they try to stack their decks, like, the dads will be, like, I'm driving in my truck and all the boys are, like, yeah, we're in, and then they, like, drive too fast and it's terrible and then they cheat.
And so now we have to have, like, randomized drawings so that there's no stacking and no cheating.
Lauren Ferrara: Back when I was in college, we did this, Trivial Pursuit beer pong championship during the holidays
Speaker 4: and took it very seriously. Everybody got, like, dressed to
Lauren Ferrara: the nines, like ridiculous holiday outfits. And and that the winner would get the the game ball in a little trophy case. And I still, so I went for, like, 7 years because it continued. I think people are still doing it today. I don't go to the Trivial Pursuit Beer Funk Championship anymore, but I do put the championship balls.
I have 4 of them. They go on my Christmas tree every year.
Bonnie Goff: Nice.
Carly Ries: See, Lauren, if I got it approved by my braining champs tribute team, you probably would be a good ad. You could oh, really? Yeah.
Lauren Ferrara: You did. It's really nice. Hard.
Carly Ries: It is hard. Yeah. You did
Lauren Ferrara: I I'm rusty. I haven't gone since, like, 2,000. So when
Carly Ries: I was a kid, I used to memorize the cards. Like, I would bring the Trivial Pursuit cards into my bed, as one does, and memorize them so that when I would play with people, they just thought I was the smartest person I know.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, this
Bonnie Goff: says so much about your personality.
Carly Ries: It does. It really does. I I mean, I would probably do the same now. Give my give myself a little more street cred.
Lauren Ferrara: I wonder you're so good at your your pub trivia.
Carly Ries: I mean, I I you don't know the questions for those ahead of time.
Lauren Ferrara: Okay.
Carly Ries: So I
Lauren Ferrara: feel like they probably steal some of the things.
Carly Ries: Otherwise, I would totally do that. Lauren, what is one of your traditions?
Lauren Ferrara: Gosh. Well, that was that was one of them back in the day. But now so as I mentioned earlier in the episode, I take videos and make these little films of everything my family does, basically. And at the end of the year, this is kind of more New Year's, I take the videos from each month and I make a year end review film. So it's about like an hour long, I edit it down and we watch it on New Year's Day.
That's so fun. It's fun to just see, like, what you've been up to all year. And then
Carly Ries: don't you kind of do that for your Christmas card? Like, instead of a Christmas card. Yeah. And then I edit like a,
Lauren Ferrara: you know, 3 minute version of it. And instead of sending out Christmas cards, I send out our year end review video to my friends.
Carly Ries: You don't send the hour long one?
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah, I think the only one that I would watch that would be my mother-in-law.
Carly Ries: Yes, probably. And I'm surprised that, like, even your husband will sit through that hour one, but that's awesome
Speaker 4: that he does.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah, he would. 1 year he was like, hour 15, Lauren. Like, let's, let's do 30 minutes. But there's just so much fun to include. Yes.
And I mean, it's just yeah. And it's great for the kids. Yes. I
Carly Ries: love it. That's such a good idea. I wanna share one of mine really quick because I it's something that I feel like I've spread a lot this year to people and I didn't start it and it is not my thing. And I think people do it around town and it's called the Whoville hike. And basically you find a good hike, you bring hot cocoa, Christmas carols, go hiking with your family and friends, and then look down over the city, see the lights, and it makes you feel like you're the Grinch looking down at all the lights.
And the kids, like, have their headlamps and their flashlights. They're singing. They're eating cookies. And I just think that's the cutest idea.
Lauren Ferrara: I love that. And so, I thought this was just a Carly thing.
Carly Ries: I I it's not a Carly thing. I stole this idea. So I know a few people that do this. Oh, okay. All all different hikes?
I think different hikes, but what an idea. We live I mean, people keep saying, we live so close to the foothills, so integrate that into your family.
Lauren Ferrara: I love that.
Bonnie Goff: I do too. That's amazing. And it's so pretty up there at night, with all of the lights and everything happening, especially with all the Christmas lights up. I love driving home at night now, and everyone has their Christmas lights up, and it's so pretty. And, yeah, so to see it from above the city, that's such a cool idea.
Carly Ries: I know. I know. So, anyway, but Bonnie, do you guys have any others? Because we were so giddy off of your scavenger hunt.
Bonnie Goff: Well, yes. So one more, again, not a Colorado Springs thing, but I mean, do you guys get so overwhelmed with the amount of presents that you have to buy for people? Like, I just feel like if they'll list something I'm
Lauren Ferrara: I'm doing a this may be unpopular. I'm doing just kits, like, grown ups don't get presents anymore.
Carly Ries: I so I do, like, giving things, but I've started doing like, I'll make a batch of puppy chow, like, Christmas puppy chow. Do you guys know what that is or does
Lauren Ferrara: it tell you I'm giving people
Carly Ries: a dog food? Okay.
Bonnie Goff: Kinda sad you don't have any today.
Carly Ries: Yeah. I know. I brought Spindrift. Not sponsored by Spindrift, but should be because we drink them so much. But I make, like, a big thing that I can give to friends and family, so it's like I'm giving something.
Bonnie Goff: Mhmm.
Carly Ries: But I I, like, really put pressure on myself with family. Like, even my parents every year I try to just make sure I and and it's self imposed, like, nobody really cares
Speaker 4: Mhmm.
Carly Ries: But me. But sorry, you were talking about something so
Bonnie Goff: they know overwhelmed. But that was how we kind of came about what we do. It's called a favorite things party. So I have a really close set of girlfriends, and I want to be able to buy them presents. Like, I adore them and I love them.
And so instead of us buying, you know, 8 different random presents that you're racking your brain because you never know what to buy that one friend, we all get together on one afternoon, we bring 3 bottles of champagne each. Yes. I know that sounds excessive.
Lauren Ferrara: But This is not a drug left. Where is it? We call
Bonnie Goff: it the graveyard when we leave because it's just nothing but, like, bottles of champagne. But, and then you bring your favorite things. So, like, say, like, my favorite thing this year was, like, this lip gloss or whatever. I would buy 8 of those, I would wrap them super cute, and then I would give them to each of them. And so when you walk away, you walk away with 8 new things that are their favorite.
Yeah. It's like Oprah, but in a way more affordable way. And you can set the limits. Like, it's kind of fun to see, like, when we started this so many years ago, we, like, were at, like, $5 each and, you know, as we've all seen more success in our careers and our lives, now we're up to $30 each. So, but the kids even do it now too.
So they'll do, like, a kids' favorite things party, and now the husbands are doing it this year which is hilarious that the husbands like, well, we wanna have a party like that and get cool presents.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, what
Lauren Ferrara: are you guys gonna do? Like, exchange screwdrivers?
Bonnie Goff: Like, what? Yes. It's pretty cool. Cards? I'm kinda funny
Lauren Ferrara: you mentioned that because,
Carly Ries: I'm in a a group
Lauren Ferrara: of women who are all different businesses and we have lunch every month. And one of them was talking about a favorite things. But I'm glad I knew how it works because I thought it was just like a exchange where you buy one thing. And sometimes they
Speaker 4: do it like that. But I
Lauren Ferrara: would be the one person.
Bonnie Goff: Yeah. Sometimes they do it like that. So just make sure that they, like, lay out the details. So ours is, like, however many people are invited, minus 1, because you well, I always buy myself that person again too, but, then you go with that many and try to make them all pretty and, like, fun. Yeah.
And then I also make sure you know your crowd really well too because I heard the most hilarious story once about a woman who was invited to a favorite things party, and she didn't know the crowd very well. And, let's just say her most favorite thing was something that was very personal as she walked into a, like, room of very conservative women and handed them a battery operated
Lauren Ferrara: Oh my. Oh, I'm, like, dying for her right now. Yeah. Oh.
Bonnie Goff: And she was, like, it was she was she was telling me this story and I am just, like, hot and melting for her. And then I said, well, what happened? She goes, well, I was completely mortified because no one warned me that this was a very conservative group of individuals. She goes, but then I got invited back the next year and they were so excited to see what I was gonna bring.
Carly Ries: That is amazing. Right?
Lauren Ferrara: So I also do, this, like, during the holiday parade downtown. We've done, like, well, well, I used to live in a loft downtown, so we didn't have to we would go walk down, check it out, and then head to the loft and have hot toddies and hot chocolate, like, with a couple other families. That was really fun. For me,
Bonnie Goff: like, it just brings back all these terrible memories of the marching band with Palmer High School and literally freezing to death and constantly questioning my life and why I chose to play the flute in the marching band. Like, it's such a worthless instrument in the marching band.
Lauren Ferrara: You still play the flute?
Bonnie Goff: I mean, I'm sure I could do something. I haven't touched one in a long time.
Speaker 4: I can't.
Carly Ries: Well, I have a flu with me, everybody.
Bonnie Goff: You bring puppy chow.
Carly Ries: I agree. Okay. So I want to talk about some of our favorite things that Colorado Springs does. Be before we get to that, another thing that a friend of mine did last year, people probably do this all over the place, but I have never done it, is a pres a a toy swap where you bring any toys that your kids were going to like, that they were sick of playing with or whatever and you bring them to a house for a little party, you lay all the toys out, and then you grab what your friends bring so that it's kinda like, oh, your kid doesn't play with that anymore. My kid loves that.
And you kinda just
Bonnie Goff: swap That's genius. Toys. Totally. I understand. Yeah.
Carly Ries: Because, I mean, the the toys that kids play with at friends' houses are always better than the toys at your own house. Yes. And so the ones that the kids don't wanna play with anymore, you just kinda do a swap, have some vino, have some charcuterie, see what your kids would want, and then bring home toys that you can wrap and put under the tree without blowing the budget and just doing a swap. And then anything that doesn't get picked up, it gets donated to a charity.
Lauren Ferrara: Perfect.
Carly Ries: So I just I thought that was such a good idea. Yeah. And, I mean, how I mean, the holidays can be so expensive, but they don't have to be. And that's just one way that I think is great, especially if, charity benefits from anything that
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Carly Ries: People don't want.
Bonnie Goff: So with clothes. It's so fun.
Lauren Ferrara: I did that with Carissa. Every every season season, she does a a little swap and I've gotten some amazing clothes and then
Speaker 4: I get
Lauren Ferrara: so much joy. There was this one top that I adored and it looked so bad on me. And then I brought it and it looked amazing on somebody else and that just made me so happy.
Carly Ries: How do you do that with different sizes?
Bonnie Goff: I I it's always worked out for us. Yeah. I feel like, you know, because there's always, like, jackets or, like, a t shirt or, you know, one of the like, there's always something someone's gonna walk away with. Like, I always tend to, like, clean out all my scarves or all my ball caps or jewelry. We started adding, like, house goods and Yep.
Speaker 4: We can
Lauren Ferrara: do that too. Yeah.
Bonnie Goff: So it's, like, everyone always walks away with something, and then you just feel a little just refreshed because your closet's cleaned out a little bit and you have some new stuff and you didn't spend any money.
Lauren Ferrara: I got this adorable blanket, this brand new super soft blanket at the last one. And I was like, girls, this is the downstairs TV watching blanket. It's going to stay on the sofa for me and whoever it doesn't leave this room. Yeah. That lasted 24 hours, and now it's on my kid's bed.
Oh, well, you guys It's not my weekend anymore.
Carly Ries: So many good ideas. What is what are some of your favorite things in town? I mean, we all hear the visitor's guide has stuff. The news obviously talks about stuff, newsletters, but what is your favorite thing or a few of your favorite things that Colorado Springs does?
Bonnie Goff: Okay. So this again just demonstrates that I have much older children than probably everyone listening. But, a couple years ago, we figured out that on Christmas night, the Mill Hill is open, and they usually have a live band. And it is hands down the most fun evening that I have done in a long time in Colorado Springs. Like, the people are just full of joy.
Everyone is cheersing and listening to this amazing band. And so if you've not been to Blooms Mill Hill on top of 21st, they are open on Christmas night, and you will most likely see me there. That's good.
Carly Ries: That's awesome. Maybe not us there. Right?
Bonnie Goff: I mean, it's for those families that are really sick of their families. They're like, we're going to the bar. But on the way home, the last time that we went, my mom and my dad, which is crazy that they were in the same car because I haven't been in the same car in 40 years, but, we were driving back to my house, and we actually ended up taking kind of a detour and doing kind of, like, looking at all the lights. And it was like, oh, Christmas, and I had my sister and both my parents in the car, and we'd just gone to the bar. I mean, why not?
You know? So it was it was really fun. So, yeah. Kind of an unknown little secret about town on that one.
Lauren Ferrara: This is not an unknown little secret. But I love skate in the park downtown. I think it is so fun. And Story Coffee has their hot chocolate, and they actually have whipped cream, which they it's funny. We've been going there for since they opened.
And every single time, my kids ask for her hot chocolate with whipped cream. And every single time, they're like, sorry, girls, we don't have whipped cream. But they have it at skate in the park.
Carly Ries: So Yeah. It's just such a good tradition.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. It's really fun. And it's amazing to see, you know, your, like, friend's husband doing some, like, crazy swirl and and then realizing that they were a legit figure skater. Like, there's so many talented people that I'm like, oh, and I'll just kind of hold on to the reels here at the side. But there's legit ice skaters, and it's fun to watch them.
Carly Ries: Yeah. That's great. I love that you can track Santa on Norad's website. Do they still do that where you can call in and talk to Santa's elves? Yeah.
So if you go to the website, you'll see the phone number, you can talk to Santa's elves. It is just so cool that that is our Norad. Like, I know Norad is Norad, but it's, like, no. It's Colorado Springs. Yes.
You know what's
Bonnie Goff: really fun about that too is that's all local people that are answering those phones. So they're, like,
Carly Ries: the least The elves, Bonnie. No. That's the elves.
Bonnie Goff: No. They're tracking it from the mountain. So they're, like, people that are watching all the tracking devices. But, yes, you
Lauren Ferrara: don't need to send reporters there.
Speaker 4: And they got to answer the phone. Yeah. They got
Lauren Ferrara: to answer the phone.
Bonnie Goff: It's, like, kids calling. It's, like, the shifts start at 8 o'clock in the morning on, Christmas Eve. I
Lauren Ferrara: love that.
Carly Ries: Had you done
Lauren Ferrara: it when you were in the No. I was always, trying to take that day off and not work on Christmas Eve.
Carly Ries: Scrooped.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Lauren Ferrara: I was pretty quick on that, holiday request.
Carly Ries: Yeah. But it's just so cool. Man, we live in a cool city. Oh, yeah.
Bonnie Goff: Have you guys have you guys on the Canyon City train? Yes.
Lauren Ferrara: I have a large
Bonnie Goff: No. With the Santa Claus one where they, like, Santa's on the train and they get this really beautiful bell and, like, all the children ring the bell. It's one of my favorite things that I used to do with Riggs when he was little. And, yeah. So if you haven't done the Canyon City Train, it's totally worth the drive down there.
Carly Ries: Nice. Yeah. Well, Bonnie has so much great information. Yes.
Lauren Ferrara: And our pretty great Pilates studio, if I do say so myself. I am my inner thighs from yesterday's class
Bonnie Goff: are still sore.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, thank you. We'd love to
Speaker 4: see you
Lauren Ferrara: guys for more days. Well, not yeah.
Carly Ries: You're our sponsor. Sorry. I just stole your question. You asked a question about
Lauren Ferrara: Well, first, I wanna say what Core Collective was. It's a reformer Pilates studio in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, and it's awesome. And I think there's this, like, misconception about Pilates is that it's a lot of people, like, use Pilates and yoga interchangeably, and they are very, very different. And, I love these Pilates machines. I love how hard the workouts are.
But you can also pop in on a core reset class and just kind of reset your truly reset your body and and do a chiller class. So there's something for everybody. So, Bonnie, I think you've done a very cool thing for Colorado Springs. Well, thank you. You've been open for a
Bonnie Goff: year. I'm a year. It's it's crazy looking back, you know, on just what has happened in the last year. You know, we had this crazy idea, my business partner, Lynn, and I have we're gonna open a studio. We're gonna do it different, and, we're gonna really try to create community and accountability and relationships.
And before we knew it, we were tearing down walls and adding more reformers, and now we've celebrated our 1st birthday and going into our 2nd year of business, thinking potentially about moving into another studio, like opening a second location, or, you know, how how do we keep bringing more of this to Colorado Springs because the resounding response has been so supportive and so amazing, like, we have almost 200 members, you guys. That's crazy.
Lauren Ferrara: Yes. It is such a joyful place to be. I mean, yeah, the class I just took was so hard, but we were all talking and laughing. And it was just it's just cool. It's And
Carly Ries: can I just say my husband has also bought a pass here, which I feel like a lot of times people associate Pilates with women? Mhmm. I I mean, it is a predominantly women, activity, but he is training for 2 big races. 1, a half marathon as well as a 100 mile bike ride, and he was like, I need to work on my core. And such a good way to do that is at Core Collective and doing Pilates, and so he signed up.
So I just wanna say it's not just a women's thing. Guys should totally sign up too.
Bonnie Goff: Oh, absolutely. I think the NFL has really helped us with that. There's been a lot of coverage on the NFL starting to incorporate Pilates into training programs specific to that high level of an athlete. And so when guys see that, like, these big burly NFL athletes are doing Pilates on these machines and that it doesn't have to be pretty and you don't have to be flexible, and that they're, like, they're shaking so hard and, like, sweating and it's, it's been an amazing thing for the male community to see that this is a really, like, great workout that doesn't require you to be flexible. You don't have to be flexible.
Yeah.
Carly Ries: Putting it out there.
Bonnie Goff: Putting it out there. No flexi needed.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, we're so grateful you're our 1st first sponsor. And you guys are doing this awesome deal for Springs and Things listeners. Put in the code Springs and Things, and you have to write out and. You get 3 classes for $30, which is a
Speaker 4: crazy good deal for reformatory bodies.
Bonnie Goff: Yeah. And it gives you a chance to try out because we have 5 different types of classes. We've got 6 different teachers that are all different ages and different voices, and so you can really find your place here. And, you 3 times, like, if you don't like us after 3 times, I need you to call me, but I'm pretty sure you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna become a member.
Speaker 4: So good.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, go to their website. It's corecollectivecos.com.
Carly Ries: And Bonnie, since you've been so great coming here today, do you wanna kick off the pick of the week?
Bonnie Goff: Oh, yes. You know what? This was actually super hard because, in all transparency, I'm going to New York City this weekend, and I'm super excited. But if I was going to be home, I would be heading over to the Buffalo Lodge by Skull Resort. They have a holiday market going on.
In fact, I think they're doing breakfast with Santa on Sunday. Cool. So I feel like you could just head over to the Buffalo Lodge, which they are so fun and such a wonderful local story and, just a really cool place to hang out. Amazing energy. And then you can do a little shopping for those last minute chants, like, oh, I forgot so and so or so and so or grab that ornament that you need for the year.
So definitely, Buffalo Lodge, for, their market this weekend.
Lauren Ferrara: And they have things going on for the holidays every single Saturday through the end until Christmas, I believe. So super cool.
Bonnie Goff: Yeah. Their Facebook actually, like like, high five to them. Their Facebook is definitely well done because they've got all of the information completely updated. So head over to
Lauren Ferrara: their Facebook. Nice. Well, I'm in the same boat. I am gonna be out of town this weekend too. I'm going to Houston to shoot one of my white weight stories films, another family's holiday tradition.
So there's, like, multiple generations who get together, to make cookies. And they've been doing this for years. And it's kids, grandkids, great grandparents, everybody, and and then interviewing the older generation. So I'll be gone. And I'm kind of devastated because this event sounds so fun.
It's, Bear Creek by Candlelight, over at Bear Creek Nature Center, and this is their big holiday celebration. So they've got music. They've got chili. They've got hot chocolate. Santa, of course, will be there.
And then they have these little craft kits you can take home. So I may sign my husband and the kids up. But when I go like, these things only happen when I'm in town. He's gonna be like, yeah. We're gonna watch a Christmas movie and call it good.
Carly Ries: Which is still okay for
Speaker 4: this time of year.
Lauren Ferrara: I'm gonna I'm gonna buy the tickets, and I'm just sad I can't be there.
Carly Ries: But another really fun spot for tourists but also locals is Rockledge Ranch. You guys, I'm assuming, have been there.
Lauren Ferrara: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I saw the biggest snake of my life there. I saw a humongous snake.
Carly Ries: Well Probably
Bonnie Goff: not at Christmas. I think you'll be okay.
Lauren Ferrara: No. Yeah. You'll be fine. Christmas, you'll be fine.
Carly Ries: They are doing a thing called the holiday evening at Rockledge Ranch. It's on Saturday, December 14th from 4 to 8. Admission is only $8 for adults, $5 for seniors, $4 for kids, 3 to 17, and 2 and under are free. But they always have such cool things going on there and this time is no different. There's a lantern tours to the homestead cabin, blacksmith shop demonstrations, barn dancing, so many things.
Of course, Saint Nicholas will be there. They'll have stuff at the general store, a hot cider, hot cocoa, the works. It just sounds so dreamy, and to have Garden of the Gods as your backdrop as you're touring this place, I just I it just sounds magical. So be sure to check it out again December 14th from 4 to 8.
Lauren Ferrara: And Saint Patrick has cleared the area of snakes.
Carly Ries: Yes. The the Irish in you. Just to clear that out. Well, Bonnie, we love you. We do.
We so appreciate you being on the show today. You've just been such a cheerleader for us, and I don't think we could ever stress enough how much we appreciate it.
Bonnie Goff: Well, number one biggest fan. Oh. I very much talk about that all the time. We talk about you guys in class every day. Aw.
Lauren Ferrara: That's so nice. Yes. We just started working there. I know. Well, the girls
Bonnie Goff: come in and, like, do you guys listen to the podcast? Have you listened to it yet? It's amazing.
Lauren Ferrara: I was, like,
Speaker 4: you have to listen
Bonnie Goff: to the podcast.
Carly Ries: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And by the time when this episode airs, it'll be a month end.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. Oh,
Carly Ries: our little baby's growing up. Yeah.
Bonnie Goff: Before you know, it'll be one.
Carly Ries: Exactly. Well, listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. We appreciate all of your support as well. This has been quite a ride so far, and we are having such a great time, and we hope you are too. And don't forget.
Lauren Ferrara: Leave us a review, a 5 star review to be very specific, and share it with a friend. Text it to somebody you love, who loves the springs and, keep giving us all the love and we'll give it right back.
Carly Ries: Exactly. See you next week.