getaway

I missed POTD yesterday. Oops. I think I had a pretty good reason though and to make up for a day missed I will provide a photo montage of that reason...

CASTLE MOUNTAIN!!!! OMG. OMFG (for you sister)... And any other equally awesome acronym can suit the hilarity/epicness of 'our adventures at Castle' - I think I'll title it - though I can't think of any other acronyms except for the two most obvious; my brain is hazy (and still in a state of academic hangover from staying up until 3:30 finishing a paper after a day of ripping, after a night of partying, after a day of paper writing).
So, my soul mate, and our soul friends took a much needed break from the chaoticism (that should be a word) that was M-F of last week. Dave and Renee had been to Castle but K2 were both newbies (I promise I will try never to refer to myself in the third person again). Anyways, this story could be a long one so I'll keep it short with point form, some parts may or may not make sense to the random reader but that's not my fault..
-Castle Mountain: nothing but a ski hill 50 km. off any main road. As such, nothing but ski bums to inhabit the spectrum of dwellings anywhere from rusty trailers to beautiful cabins, to the Holiday Inn type hostel, and probably a snow hut thrown in there somewhere too.
-The T-Bar: the 600 square foot bar that these inhabitants, be it 'locals' or passerby's, cause a mega ruckus. I am, and forever will be, in love with The T-Bar. The bell means free shots for all... free shots for all!
-Bachelorette parties were crashed, though I like to think we added to the flair of the evening.
-Ski poles doubled as swords that attacked unknowing margarine containers.
-Various fridges were explored in fine detail using said sword.
-Piggy backs ended in piles in the snow, more than once and more than twice.
-Heads hit the pillow past 4 to dream of the snow that would follow a few short hours later.

The riding was fabulous. We mixed the day up with some serious tree action at the top with fun cruiser blues half way up. Sometimes I couldn't tell whether a cliff was 1 foot in front of me or flat ground the light was FLAT at the top, but a few cautionary moves led to better and better light and SO MUCH FUN in the trees. I LOVE CASTLE!!!

FREAKING FUN.

OUR CREW.

What's going on behind that bag of "hot wings" Ruffles (????!) is anyone's guess

After we closed the bar down we went searching for a apres-bar trailer party. What we found was a gorgeous cottage filled with fun girls to hang with. Let the sunglass-off begin..

ROCKSTARS!

SOULMATE ROCKSTARS!

There was no way to know this at the time but this was some major foreshadowing of what was to come. Unfortunately, only I have the 6 minute video that captures the evidence and I have been sworn to secrecy by one, KMB.

Intact Margarine container.

SNOW DAY!!! Renee rocking out.

We laugh in the face of the "easy way" down.

EPIC WEEKEND. Thank you Castle :)

photo of the day: day 1

Taking and posting a photo of the day each day for 30 days shouldn't be that hard right? Apparently, it has proven challenging so far for me as here is a picture of the sun setting, pretty much my last chance to get anything worthy of an interesting photograph. But hey, I did it, and it's pretty (for an iPhone shot). You might not know this but I'm up for iPhone photographer of the year. Okay no I'm not, but I do love to throw that out there at least 4 times a day :)

photo of the day: day 1. This is Chinaman's Peak in Canmore. I have been spending quite a bit of time out here lately. I am very contented nestled in amongst the mountains, tracing the sun as it make its way across the open sky, watching fat flakes fall in the shadow of a street lamp from the comfort of indoors, slip sliding up the icy river bed or hanging with my friends, the trees in the forest. It is a lovely, peaceful and serene place to spend my days, though that could have something to do with the company I'm keeping...

Day 1 and I will say it again.. life is good and I'm grateful.

30 day challenge(s)

It would seem as though I like 30 day challenges. To be honest, I don't think I've made it to 30 days before.. but that's besides the point. Well... Okay, okay, I guess setting a 30 day challenge and not making it to 30 days would be considered a fail but that word doesn't exist in my vocabulary. The point of a 30 day challenge is to incorporate something new into my life, try it out, modify if necessary, add, take away and settle it into my way of being if I do so choose.

So, the latest and greatest of 30 day(ish) challenges? I have two ideas... The first is to meditate every day for at least 20 minutes. I love meditating. I have been meditating for a couple of years now, though never regularly. I used to struggle with the idea as it seemed like impossible to get my mind to "turn off". It wasn't until one meditation class that the instructor said a few simple words that changed my whole way of thinking about meditating. She said "don't try to control your thoughts, just observe them". I left that class feeling incredible. I sat for 35 minutes and simply listened. I felt so in touch with my being. Since then I've enjoyed opportunities to listen and learn more about myself when there is nothing else in the way.

I've been doing a lot of reading about spirituality, mindfulness, meditation, peace, etc. lately and I've found some wonderful websites full of insight and wisdom regarding these topics. One particular website talked about 30 days of meditation and that got my wheels turning. So today is day one. Kristian is embarking on the journey with me and is already a seasoned meditator. I'm excited to see the further knowledge and understanding that unfolds. I'll keep you updated..

The second 30 day challenge is a photo challenge. I'm going to post a pic-a-day to see what's going on with life. I definitely fell off the blog wagon for a few weeks so it's one way to start that up again and I love to use my blog as a journal since I can't keep a journal to save my life. So pic one coming up later (by midnight at the latest!).

WOO HOO! Happy day!