Tuesday, January 25, 2011

More Words, Less Photos

I have yet to upload my photos from this past weekend... a little thing called life keeps getting in the way... however, this shouldn't prevent me from doing a post!

Just more words, less photos. Being a writer, I should be able to handle that, no?

The Blubber Burn. Those words should be enough to tell you what kind of cyclocross race we participated in on Sunday. The Blubber Burn is an annual event, meant to burn off the winter fat... although you wouldn't know it from the first place prize of a jumbo pack of beer. And by the yahoos who showed up in football jerseys and Hawaiian shirts...



(photos courtesy of Chris Reddick)


If anything, the Blubber Burn should be retitled the Motivation-Maker because it showed everyone how slow they were from lack of winter training... ahem....

But it was a great event and I'll post a selection of photos sometime this week. Hopefully tomorrow! Don't hold me to it!
Either way, the plan is to get more road rides in on the weekends, peppered with a few mountain bike adventures here and there. I've discovered a couple new gals to ride with who aren't crazy-hardcore-take-you-down-a-trail-of-death. Not that Cam did that. Ever.

I just hope to avoid any of this....



(my first foray into mountain biking and I snapped a cable... luckily I had a mechanic in my backpocket)


Last night was a get-things-done sorta night. After a late evening run to Thrifty's, Cam quickly transformed our kitchen into a Mexican hot house, complete with smoked chili pepper rice and fumes that burn your nostrils. Meanwhile, I set up the new webcam... but we couldn’t find anyone on iChat. It was lonely.

Time to practice up for my French class tonight! We're learning about food and how to order food. Did you know eggplant is aubergine in French? I shall call it aubergine from now on. Way nicer than EGGplant.

Soupe de tomate... quiche lorraine.... pizza aux raisin et poire... une cafe latte avec plus mousse.... nom nom nom....

Sunday, January 16, 2011

January Adventures

My friend Meghan and I took on the challenge of Mt. Finlayson a couple weekends ago. I had no idea what was in store for me... the half hour of rock climbing at the end tested my fear of heights for sure!


But we had an awesome time, and brought along a couple companions to keep us company. Marley and Finnegan were true mountain-goats.









Yesterday, in celebration of Meghan's birthday, we visited the Butterfly Gardens where hundreds of butterflies live in a tropical paradise. I'd recommend going there even if it's just to get away from winter. The place was balmy.







This little dude was feeding the fishies! They were practically leaping out of the water to grab food.



Meghan's birthday wish was to have a butterfly land on her finger. After many failed attempts to have one land on us, we snuck up on a butterfly sitting on a leaf and forced a finger under him. And he didn't fly away!



Afterward, we all went out to Aura for dinner...



We had a private room, excellent waiters, and the food was A-MAZ-ing. Cam and I split a calamari appetizer and I loved it. The last time I had calamari was in biology class, when the teacher cooked some over a bunson burner. Hmm... this stuff was definitely better!

This morning we got up bright and early and met a couple people from Cam's work for a road ride. I've been spending most of my time on the indoor trainer, so was excited to get out on the road. Cam's been spending most of his time on the mountain bike, which isn't quite the same kind of work out. Of course the rain came down hard and we were all drenched within minutes... however, once we got going, and my legs woke up, we all had a blast! I even beat Cam up a couple climbs :)  He needs to get his butt out on the road more!

Gotta get the miles in for this little thing we're doing in May...

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Day

We had a beautiful sunrise at about 9:30AM Christmas Day...






But inside the house we had other priorities....

there were gifts to deal with!




Before the fray:





Afterwards!




Even the little Grinch I made out of Sculpey got some gifts...





Puppies were wrangled away from all the wrapping paper...




.... toys were assembled and played with...





...and we all sat down to a delicious turkey-lurkey dinner :)




To top it all off, we had a bright sunny Christmas Day



Why oh why must I leave in two sleeps?




Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Xmas Family Time

I've had a good couple days up north so far...






12:40 PM, Main Street, Whitehorse... -25





A quick iPhone shot of water vapor rising off the Yukon River:






And I've been getting reaquainted with some old pals....




as well as some new, hyper playful ones!




But of course, it's always good to see the family... even if they are a little scruffy around the edges :)





Mum explaining the finer points of puppy obedience training...




Merry Christmas to everyone! I shall post more photos on Xmas Day!




Monday, December 20, 2010

Cam's Mobile Me

For those of you who haven't seen the videos (the cross race crash being the most dramatic), this is the link to Cam's Mobile Me Gallery:

http://gallery.me.com/cammaysmith

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Thursday, December 9, 2010

26 cents

I’m officially “a quarter plus a penny” old. (according to my pal, Carolyn)

My birthday consisted of some smashing things:


1. Sleeping in.
2. Wonderful gifts from family and friends
3. A Mountain Bike.... more on that later
4. A visit to Victoria's new frozen yogurt joint.... not as good as the Golden Spoon in Cupertino, but satisfying

5. And finally, we had a blow-your-socks-off dinner at Point No Point. Amazing food. Quaint, cozy atmosphere. I would love to stay in one of their luxury coastal cabins!


Two nights ago, I eagerly took my mountain bike out for a little spin.

I had visions of how my first time out would be:


There would be gratuitous curb hopping...







.... much jumping over poor homeless animals:





It wouldn't take me long to catch on. I'd be the female equivalent of Danny Macaskill, leaping from trees and buildings with narry a pinched flat to show for it.





So I rushed outside, ready to lift the rubber from the road.




Forty-five minutes later: