Skiing at Cypress & celebrating

Today Shannan, Frank and I woke up early and headed up to the slopes on Cypress. It was a beautiful day to be outside. The sun was shining brightly, the mountain air was fresh and the view was breathtaking. Being one with nature always makes me feel so alive.

Each of us decided to take a lesson. The two snowboarders headed off and I joined the group of skiers. There were two instructors for our intermediate group. They watched our technique and eventually split us up into two groups of six to practice different skill sets.

I learned so much today! It was nice to have a private lesson. At the end, each person was given individual feedback. My take-aways are:

• Hold my hands out in front of me, instead of down at my sides
• Lean forwards, instead of backwards
• Turn with my feet first, instead of with my body
• To improve technique, practice moving up and down smoothly, between each turn

In the afternoon, we met up and practiced what we'd learned.

Note to self: Do not sit in the middle of two snowboarders on the lift chair :)

Why do they make the exits off the lift chairs so steep anyway? When Frank, Shannan and I got off the lift chair, we collided and I was sandwiched in the middle. All three of us were knocked off our feet and landed on our backs. My ski flew off and the back of my head hit the ground. I was stunned for a minute. The other two were struggling to get out from beneath me. Anyway, I have a nice black and purple bruise on my butt (from landing the edge of Frank's snowboard) and Shannan has a bruised lip, (from landing on my ski pole). We laughed it off. People are always wiping out exiting from the chairs.

We were famished after the workout. We stopped in at the South African store in North Vancouver and stocked up on biltong and dry wors, which took us back to our childhood. There are some things from your past that you always hold onto. Next stop was Stefos for calamari and lamb.

We shouldn't have eaten so much because Frank had a dine out in Vancouver event and I had plans to attend a birthday dinner.

Celebrating Chris' 30th

Chris' birthday was held at Shabusen. It was good to see everyone, since we weren't able to get together over the holidays. There was a lot of food and conversation.

The thirties are the beginning of a new decade. You have a better sense of who you are, who you love and you know what you want.