New helmet

For several years now, when I buy my ski pass, I think “I should get a helmet this year”. And I decide to wait til the spring when the ski gear go on sale. But when spring comes, I forget to go shop for a helmet. Then winter comes round again and I think “I really should get a helmet”.

The death of Natasha Richardson from what seemed like an innocent fall on a beginner hill prompted me to finally get my ass into a store and buy a helmet. And being spring, helmets were 40% off which made me pretty happy. So, next time I go skiing, I’ll have a little bit more protection than I used to. And that’s a good thing.

Next up... retainers

Yesterday, my dentist finally took off the bumps on my teeth. These bumps were for my Invisalign treatment (i.e. plastic braces). And I am officially done with my braces and moving on to wearing retainers when I go to sleep. Yay! I first got my Invisaligns in Jan 2008 and 14 months later, my teeth are fairly straight. See how much they’ve moved from Week 1 to Week 61:



My smile before:


And now:

Silver Star

Ed's colleague, Scott, invited us to join him and his family for a couple of days of skiing at Silver Star resort in Vernon,, BC. We decided to make the 5-hour drive after work on Thursday so that we'll have Friday and Saturday to ski. Then Sunday will be a leisurely day to make our way back to Vancouver. Thanks to Scott and Colleen for being such gracious hosts!

I have to say that skiing is one of my favourite activities. Scott said every time I got back to the lift after a run, I had a wide, beaming smile on my face. I just love being on the mountain, facing the challenge of the run head-on, and enjoying the beautiful scenery around me. I love the feel of the wind against my face, the crunch of the snow underneath my skis, the adrenalin rush as I make my way down the run.

I like Silver Star! We did about 10 runs on Friday and 14 runs on Saturday. My legs held up better than I expected. I've only been skiing once this year for a couple of hours after work so doing two full days was pretty ambitious. The hot tub after certainly helped with all the achy muscles.

On Sunday, before leaving the resort, Ed and I decided to go ice skating. They have an outdoor rink at Silver Star. I have never skated outdoors before and I was so excited. But I haven't skated in over two years so I was also a little anxious about being on skates again. Plus, having played ice hockey for several years, I am only comfortable skating when I have all my gear on. Without them, I feel vulnerable. Falling hurts and not much fun! But we did have lots of fun skating on the frozen pond. We were both pretty rusty so we just took it easy. It was just such a treat to be on the ice again and be outdoors. It made me realize how much I miss skating and hockey!

I forgot to bring our little point-and-shoot camera so we have no pictures while skiing. Which was too bad because the sky was so blue and clear. The view from the top of the lifts were fantastic!

Here I am showing off my stop for the camera. Unfortunately, the pressure of having to perform got the better of me - I caught an edge and got off-balanced...