Into the Woods

I went on a hike the other day and originally I was not going to bring a camera and just going to use my phone but at the last minute I threw my little Sony in my bag and I'm glad that I did.  It was foggy which made the woods look foggy and beautiful, it actually looked like the forbidden forest.  My poor water damaged phone also got cold and died half way through, I would have had nothing to instagram! 

The best part of the hike was definitely when we had more tree cover so it was foggier just because it made such a cool affect through the trees.

There was also a lot of running water and I loved that sound as we walked through the woods, it was so relaxing and nice to get out of the city and slog of looking for jobs (that has been my life these days).

Summer in Pictures

It seems like overnight the weather has turned for the worst, it's cold, I wore a jacket and a hat the other day, and now it's September and I guess summer is officially over.  I took two mini trips this summer; one to the cottage with the famjam and one to visit my parents in BC.

Our family cottage is my happy place, unfortunately during that trip I had a concussion so I couldn't do a lot other than sit on the dock (on the warm days) and read in short bursts.

A month later I travelled to BC to hang out with my parents and luckily I was recovered from the concussion at that point so I was able to go on a fun hike with the mom and the sister; there's nothing like those BC forests.

The Summer ended on a high when me and the roomies roadtripped down to Edmonton to see Taylor Swift in concert!  I won't go into too much detail but it was incredible, I could post a full review if anyone wanted because I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about Taylor Swift.

Vacay: Beaches and Volcanoes

I'm on vacation.  I'm sitting on a big balcony/patio thing, I'm covered in sand, I have a proper tan for the first time in years and I'm a maybe a little bit sunburned but I'm feeling really good.  It's important to note that I have never been on a proper holiday.  I have a cottage, we once drove to a resort for my grandparent's 50th anniversary but I have never flown somewhere for the sole purpose of having a vacation.  I know that I mention this always and it's getting old but this season was hard, it was hard to deal with on a few levels and when we recently started training again I felt like I really wasn't ready to think about training again.  So I'm on vacation.

the view from the balcony

I'm spending a lot of time on the beach which is great but because I'm also one of those super annoying active people I'm doing things like hiking a volcano.  We had to drive up crazy switchbacks up to almost 10,000 feet where we then hiked down and then back up.  There were incredible views and the the coolest thing was that because of the volcanic rock etc. very little (including plant life) could live up there so it was almost eerily quiet.

volcano view

I'm not doing nothing training-wise while I'm away, I'm doing what I can but at this point I don't feel too bad about what I'm missing.  After thinking about skating all day every day for an entire season I don't feel like 2 weeks was enough time off for me to get myself in the right headspace to go back to organized, group training full time.  I'm hoping that this way I can get myself into a place where I can be positive about training instead of dragging myself and my bad attitude to the oval every day.

sunset at the beach

not the most flattering picture but figured there should be at least one with my face in it

Canada Day

It's been a while since I've actually done something for Canada Day.  When you're from Ottawa Canada Day is a pretty big deal, there's always something going on and downtown basically shuts down for a big party and fireworks.  I always thought that Canada Day was a big deal everywhere but apparently it's not so my first few Canada Days in Calgary were disappointing; no one wanted to do anything special and just treated it like it was any other day.

This year my cousin/roommate's friend was visiting so we decided to make an effort to do something fun so we went and explored some of the things going on downtown in Calgary.

Me, friend, and the cousin

Our first stop there was a band playing.  I have no idea who they were, they're probably in town for stampede, but they were playing Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) so we stopped until that song was done.

There were a lot of tents set up when we first arrived selling clothes, and bags, and scarves and things and then also a whole bunch of tents selling art.

One of the first things I said after we got off the train was "I should have brought my camera." It was such a nice day (honestly one of the nicest ones I've experienced since moving to Calgary) and it was fun to explore parts of the city that we hadn't spent a lot of time in before and I wish I'd had something other than my iPhone with me to take pictures. 

Olympic Plaza an the Calgary Tower

There were lots of buskers out.  We stopped to watch this guy for a little bit and he was really cute and funny with this little kid while he was waiting for a crowd to form but then once he actually started juggling he dropped some balls on his first trick so we moved along.

We walked all the way along the riverfront and just enjoyed the sunshine occasionally stopping to check out different things that were going on and checked out the Peace Bridge for the first time. 

Peace Bridge - a very fancy pedestrian bridge

Shot of the river from the bridge

We then ended the day with some dinner and drinks on a patio but unfortunately we were home before fireworks because we had to get up for training the next day #athleteprobs.

A Taste of Summer

I went to visit my parents in the Vancouver area for just over a week or my home away from home away from home?  I've got too many homes to count now.  While I was there I was lucky enough to experience some really nice weather, summer weather in fact.  I went for a little walk with my mom and my sister and took some pictures that I've spent the day reminiscing over since it snowed in Calgary yesterday ... seriously snow in May, what's up with that?

Being in BC was such a gorgeous change because everything was green and flowers were in bloom and most importantly it was warm, sunny, and there was no snow.

Duckies!

Always love getting my camera out and taking pictures, being creative, if I could I think I'd like to just walk around and take pictures of anything and everything and maybe do a bit of writing in between and nothing else.  Unfortunately I don't get to do that and I've got to start my new part time job tomorrow, wish me luck!

Holiday Hike?

I'm used to spending Christmas under a few feet of snow so you can imagine how weird it was for me to be somewhere that there was no snow and it was also green in the middle of winter.  Since my parents have moved they've become super outdoorsy so on Christmas Eve we decided to go on a little hike and I brought my big girl camera with me to snap a few photos.

So mossy and green! Are we sure it's December?

Looks like a jungle or something

I'm getting really artsy now

My mom and my sister

My dad snapping some pictures of his own

Bit of a different Christmas for my famjam this year but still nice and I love an excuse to break out my camera.  Hope you all had lovely holidays too!  (Slightly different kind of post but I wanted an excuse to post some of my pictures.)