IronWOman!

This past weekend I headed up to Penticton to cheer Sheri on as she completed her first Ironman Triathlon. Ever since we met a year and a half ago, she's been training for this. For those of you who aren't totally familiar with this insane competition, it starts with a 3.8 km swim then goes into a 180 km bike and finishes off with a marathon for good measure all in 17 hours or less.
This year was the 25th anniversary of Ironman Canada and there were about 2700 competitors. The youngest competitor was 18 and the oldest this year was 77! The photo above is the mass start for the swim portion first thing in the morning. Needless to say, it was a bit challenging to pick Sheri out of the crowd!
The weather was decent, keeping steady at 22 degrees and overcast, so no one got too much sun. Sheri was smiling throughout and crossed the finish line at 14:09:29 - nearly an hour before she thought she would! I joined her family and her boyfriend in cheering her on throughout. It was an inspiring day, but I don't quite feel compelled to sign up yet. I've posted a bunch of photos from the day to my flickr account, be sure to check them out.

Can't even tell you how proud I am of you Sheri!

Roots and Blues

This weekend, I took in the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival. This was my 6th (or maybe 7th) year attending, and it continues to be one of my favorite festivals. Not only do they have great acts, but they have managed to keep the tickets prices low. It's also a great family festival. Highlights this year were Michael Franti and Spearhead (who had the crowd rocking on Friday night), Liam Titcomb, Dustin Bentall and Rachelle Van Zanten. As per usual, I came home with new CDs.
It was also great to catch up with a number of friends and family who came from Calgary, Vancouver and Kelowna. The only downside to the weekend was the weather. It held out until Sunday morning, but after that things turned into a soggy mess. Only the die-hard festers showed up in rain gear of all varieties on Sunday (and yes, that is a picture of me wrapped in a tarp below). We however, had a blast dancing in the rain. Count me in again for next year!

Photos as promised

So, here's a quick look at my place.
The living Room...

Which is also the dining room...

A couple of the bedroom...


and of course the guest room (and the infamous futon) which also doubles as my TV room, though I don't have cable so it's more my movie room.

I didn't feel the need to wow you with the bathroom, kitchen or the overstuffed utility room but they round out the rooms in my basement suite.

Amy's B&B open for business!

Ok – so maybe it’s less of a bed and more of a futon. And some mornings I struggle getting myself breakfast so you might be on your own in that department as well, but “Amy’s Futon open for business” didn’t sound particularly appropriate!
Anyway, all kidding aside, I’ve managed to unpack all the boxes that came in the first load. Everything has a place and everything is in its place (for the time being anyway). Those of you who know me well, know that the photos below may be the cleanest my bedroom will ever be ;o) (Sidebar - Just realised that I left the CF card with the photos on it at home, photos of the new place to follow shortly!)

I have already hosted my first dinner guests as my landlord and his girlfriend, who live upstairs, came over Sunday night. I’m also expecting my first houseguest, as Carsen will be visiting from Calgary enroute to the Roots and Blues. Can’t wait to catch up with her! I am already booking into the fall and winter so those of you looking for a long weekend away or a ski holiday should call now!

Now for a brief infomercial…
My new place is all tile, so when I moved in, I was given a couple of area rugs for my place by a guy at work. (Thanks a million Nate!) The carpets had been stored in a basement though and needed a good vacuuming. My sister recently got a Dyson and offered to lend it to me, until I got my vacuum unpacked. If you’ve never read up on these, you need to check them out (www.dyson.com). I didn’t think it was possible to get this excited about housecleaning! Yes I am now officially a domestic dork, but it was amazing! If you’ve never tried a Dyson before, using one will result in one of 2 things:
1. You will never want to own a place with carpet again after seeing how much dust this thing pulls up or 2. You will never want to own a vacuum other than a Dyson again.

Now the only catch is that I need to start a “Buy-Amy-A-Dyson” Fund in order to be able to afford one!

Perfecting the fine art of bike-hiking

So, last night I decided to test out some of the mountain bike trails at Mountain Station in Nelson with my friend Carey. It was a good idea in theory…
I don’t consider myself to be a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think that I can typically hold my own. I’ve biked in Calgary, Bragg Creek, Canmore and Fernie but nothing
compares to the trails in Nelson. Usually I can handle the blue rides, saving the greens for the uphill battle. I’m not afraid to admit that we got schooled last night! Here’s a couple tips for anyone planning on biking in Nelson:
1. Rent a full suspension bike and body armour!
2. Don't bike ride to the parking lot - save your energy for the uphill and take your car!
3. If blue rides sound like a good idea - rethink and then try the green!
The runs we hit were steep, narrow and twisted and often involved a drop followed by a ramp. Loose soil, rocks and roots were the least of our worries. To quote a local mountain bike website "If you're looking for capital 'H' Hard-core riding, the handful of trails just off Mount Station Road east of Nelson is rated psycho. They're not long, but they sure are tough, both vertically and technically."
We're not too shy to try again, but in the meantime I may just need to go back to Fernie for a bit of an ego boost.

Gisele's Birthday Weekend!

I can't believe we pulled it off - but somehow 14 some odd people managed to keep my mom's birthday weekend a secret! Unbelievable! Friday night my mom arrived in Nelson (toting a bunch of my furniture - thanks mom!) and unannounced to her, her mom, sisters (and sister-in-law) and nieces were all here waiting for her. We had a great weekend hanging out at Lisa's place. We also checked out the Kaslo Jazz Festival and the beach nearby. Many thanks to Willa and Harold at Beach Taghum B&B for their incredible hospitality. They let us take over their beach, BBQ and patio for the whole day yesterday. It was an idyllic venue.

The whole weekend was relaxing. Many laughs were shared and memories made. Happy Birthday Mom!

Take Flight!

So far, life in the Kootenays has been treating me well. Yesterday was no exception! My friend Thor took me up in his Cessna for a flight around the Kootenays. This was only my second time in a small plane and I fared much better this time for sure. (Danny, Thor said it must have had something to do with the pilot, but I will admit to having taken some ginger preemptively.)
I even got to fly the plane, or at least Thor lead me to believe I was flying it - I assume he had it under control the whole time. We did a couple of Zero G's - in which you experience weightlessness. At one point I had a plastic water bottle in my hand which floated up. I tapped one end of it, and it started spinning in mid air. There's a fun video on YouTube that shows the same concept with a dog. (don't worry, they don't spin him!) Check out the link.

Although it was quite smokey in the area from the forest fires (as you can see in the photos) it was still an amazing way to spend a Thursday afternoon. You can check out all the pictures in my Kootenay Flight set on my flickr site. Thanks again Thor!

Surfing in Windermere

This past weekend I was lucky enough to head out to Windermere for the weekend. Stayed with friends of Lisa's, Mark and Brandy, at their cabin and camped out on the beach. The picture above is the view from my tent just before sunset. Got a chance to meet a number of Lisa's friends that she's often talking about, so it was nice to put a face to the name. Mark just bought an amazing boat, and we spent a good part of both days out on the water. Wake Surfing seems to be a pretty popular thing out there. I had never seen it before, but it is super cool. Essentially, you surf the wake behind the boat. Initially you get towed, but once the wake settles out and you find your balance you can let go of the rope and the strength of the wave pulls you along. I didn't try it for fear of hurting my knee again, but Lisa and Andrew both did, and they were naturals. By the end of the second day they were both riding the wave without a tow rope.
We had sunny blue skies the whole time, so all in all, another great weekend!