The tree was in the middle

I'm back from the annual ski trip! Fun as always. This year we went to Sunshine and stayed in the inn right on the mountain. So cool. Valet parking at the bottom and then you take a gondola up to the hotel and ski right out of your room practically. I highly recommend it.

So anyway, this year I decided that I would conquer the black diamond. I am a pretty confident blue run skiier but I wanted to expand my skills and tackle those blacks head-on. Actually literally head-on; my poor "head" hit "on" the ground several times. The thing that still foils me is the narrow runs - I can't seem to turn quick enough. So while I was inside warming up with some hot chocolate, the guys found this run (I think it was called "Star Trek", although I'm not sure why) that they thought would be perfect for teaching me. It was two moguls wide except for this one part where there was a big tree right in the middle. I said, "Which way do I go?" and was told to just pick the right or left and go. Right. No, left. No, right. Then my skiis crossed and I ran straight into the tree. "That was the worst way," was the laughing response of one of my friends. And he was correct. I should have stuck with right.

The rest of the trip was just as excellent. I hung out for a few days with my friend who got married in Mexico this December. I also visited with some pals in Calgary. And went to IKEA. I can't believe they won't ship things. I probably would have spent $1000 on furniture there plus whatever shipping was, but since they don't ship, I didn't spend anything. I guess it doesn't matter to them though. If I don't buy it, someone else will.

But today is the last day of my holiday. Tomorrow is the return of work. So I guess that's it. Later.

Ontario wimps

I've been busy. Christmas was relaxing. Work's been good. Life has been fine. But I just haven't been in a computer mood. Which is too bad, because I actually had some funny stories in the past month. But meh, too late now.

I just got back from a work trip. I was gone for the week, doing my surveys, staying in little towns. The usual. But it was a particularly cold week. And it got colder as the week went; -26 degrees Celsius, -28 degrees Celsius, and then this morning, -32 degrees Celsius. That is cold my friends, and it does not include the wind chill (which thankfully was not that bad. Only -40 or so). So this morning I went to start my car, my beautiful Mazda that I still love and find only one fault with (and that is that it is kind of wimpy and doesn't like the cold weather). While I was loading all my equipment and files into it, I turned on the Weather Channel, my guilty pleasure. As per usual, the world in Canada revolves around Ontario and they were doing a "National Forecast" which involves a quick mention of all the rain in Vancouver, a passing remark about Alberta (a.k.a. the Prairies), and then on to Ontario. To be fair, they usual don't mention the maritimes or Quebec all that much. Eastern friends, Saskatchewan feels your pain.

Anyway, this is what I heard the weather lady say. Paraphrased of course, because I am horrible at remembering exact quotes.

Extreme cold weather warnings in Ontario today. Weather dipping as far as MINUS TEN. And with the wind chill, it feels even colder.

My mouth dropped. Did she really just say EXTREME? Her very own network is telling me in a scroll across the bottom that it is -32.

Ridiculous. Well, I sure hope those Ontarions are staying inside today with that extreme cold. Wouldn't want their cheeks to get rosy or anything.

Yes, I am bitter. But it is more that the weather network ignores my province than anything. And I also realise there are snow squalls going on out there, and those are a really big deal. But geez. -10. That's approaching spring weather. Sure I choose to live in Saskatchewan and I know that means it gets cold. But really, do you need an "extreme weather warning" for -10. Buck up.

And northern Ontario, you are excluded from my rant, because they ignore you too. And because you are cool. Especially Kenora. I want to live there someday. But I digress.

Busy Miss Gina

Okay, so I'm taking a break from bloggy land and I'm not quite ready to come back yet but I had to quickly post about my sister's new blog!

Miss Gina

She's not sure yet if she's going to be a full blown blogger or not, but you should check her out in case she does. She's very clever.

Okay, I'll be back soon. My break is almost over. I can feel it.

his name was baxter

crazy night. i get a phone call around 5 from a lady in the church i attended in regina. her nephew, whom i knew back in the day, has a girlfriend who was in a car accident this afternoon near my city. the nephew was rushing here from edmonton but it was going to take a few hours and they were worried about the dog. whose name is baxter. so i got to track down baxter from the spca and bring him home. i'm feeling quite lazy and the whole story would take too long to type but in the end it took me 3 hours to get the poor little guy. i brought him to my house, took him for a quick walk and then thought we'd settle down for a couple hours and chill. yeah right. that little dude humped everything in site. my friend Ang came over and we laughed and laughed and laughed because he just wouldn't stop. so now all my blankets need to be washed. but i was glad that i could help out an old acquaintence. and the dog was cute, just gross.

so anyway, that didn't turn out to be a very good story. but too bad. i'm tired and going to bed.

resolute-ing

Okay. New year. New Shannon. No more sitting around and gaining back the ten pounds you worked so hard to lose over the past two months before your perfect holiday. No more being unmotivated and not cleaning up the house and sleeping in everyday and being late (like 5 minutes) for work. No more.

So I got back from Mexico and my beloved main floor roomate had left. Sadness to the extreme. But I am starting to get used to it - although I will never like it. I spent the next week doing literally nothing. Then I went home and had a lovely Christmas, caught a friend's wedding on the 29th and then went to my church's new year's retreat. Now I am home and it's a new time. I am going to clean up and organise my house, lose those ten pounds again, ski as much as possible this winter, and keep learning how to climb up big walls. Yep, that's the plan. I suppose that it could be considered an unofficial resolution.

So I started tonight by cleaning out the fridge - it's so nice and sparkly clean right now. Tomorrow I am going climbing and then out for supper with a friend. Then I will clean the bathroom. And I need to go shopping. I was talking with my friend Ang the other day about how much both of us hate going to the store. I realised that I will eat the grossest food for several days in a row, or wear absolutely every pair of underwear and socks when I run out of laundry detergent, just so I won't have to drive to the store. It's different in the summer but in the winter, once I get home, I really don't like to leave again. And the other funny thing is that once I'm actually at the grocery store, I love it. Maybe not so for other shopping, but definately for groceries. I love just being in the grocery store - especially the old Garden Market IGA's.

Well, I must go to sleep now. Happy new year.

Me gusta Mexico. Mucho.

The perfect vacation. It really was. I enjoyed myself so much. I haven't actually been anywhere tropical while it was cold and snowy back home before. It makes it harder to come home though. But I thought I'd tell you a bit about it in pictures. Maybe a few more stories some other time.

Warning: I am horrible at taking pictures (you kind of lose the hang of it after five years of not having a camera) so I don't have much to work with. Plus I'm not sure if I want to show people's faces - what's blogging etiquette on that? Anyway, here is my holiday in pictures.

The all-inclusive bracelet that is both stylish and functional. R (the bride) and I so cut ours off for the wedding. Guess we should have asked first though - it's kind of a process to get a new one. See my freckles!? They come out to play in the sun.

So the resort was beautiful. Lots of bright colours and so near the ocean. And everyone you meet, practically, is from Canada. I loved the friendly staff - they all called me and R chaquita. We didn't really care what it meant - it sounded good.

This was our pool. Our meeting place. The resort had 6 "blocks" and ours was the third. The ocean was about 30 feet to the left. The hut thing in the corner, that's the bar. I was partial to the pineapple juice myself.

I did play some beach volleyball. It took me a bit to get over the face that not only am I self concious about playing sports, now I am playing them in a bathing suit. But it was good times.

I did some dancing. See me cutting in? I had to dance with statues you see, because they played almost no salsa music back at the resort. I did dance one night with a staff guy though. He spun me like I've never been spun before.

And I hung out under a weird statue. This was the day a couple of us went into Puerto Vallarta for church. Our taxi got stopped for speeding on that trip. And we experienced the Mexican bus system on the way home. There was a man with a little radio singing at the top of his lungs in Spanish when we got on. It was so cool.

The main event was of course the wedding. It was pretty much the most beautiful beach wedding ever.

Almost brought tears to my eyes. R was so beautiful.

This was our group. On the beach. In Mexico. On December 4. Too cool.

I'll leave you with a couple more. I wish I had all the ones of the scuba diving and beach laying and fancy dininng-ing. How sad that I don't have the pictures of the humpback whales a mere ten feet from our boat. Or the dolphins racing beside us in the water. But I do not. So here is one of my feet instead.

I got a pedicure the day of the wedding as the ladies all lounged at the spa. I also got a massage on the beach at sunset the last night. But no pictures of that.

And here is me and my friends on the last night. I'm in the skirt and second from the left.

I love Mexico.

Sad to be back.

I loved Mexico. Will one of you please get married there again soon and invite me so I can go back? Please?