Actually, as I live in Calgary, winter has been here for awhile. Seriously, the snow has been on the ground for a solid month. Seeing as we never had an actual fall season, I won't dwell on that but let's discuss what I miss most about summer. It will also give you an idea of what I've been doing since my last post, which I recognize was basically 4 months ago. It's a short list - one thing for every month that I've been gone. Here you go:
1. Topsiders: I know this is a random one, but I love that they made a comeback this year. I love preppy boys, so the summer uniform of long shorts, cardigans and topsiders made me very happy. I do love a good peacoat and scarf combo too, so now that it's winter I can't complain too much, but I will miss the boat shoes that were all over town this summer.
2. Orcas: I went to a wedding this summer on beautiful Galiano island. On Friday afternoon we went for a sail and came across a few pods of orcas. While it was not quite this close, if you want to see how many there were and how awesome they are, check out this video from Outside Mag - it was in the same area and the same time. Oh and the wedding was fun too. CG married her man Bill on a beautiful day overlooking the ocean. We drank, we danced, we made wished on Thai lanterns and there was a risque photo shoot that is still being talked about.
3. Patios: It really goes without saying, but I had quite a few great afternoons on the various patios around town this summer. A special shoutout to National, the Ship and Local 510. Great places to drink beer and watch the world go by.
4. Bronze medals: I spent a lot of time watching the London Olympics. Not a surprise really if you look back at some of my posts from February 2010 (here, here and here). Canadians didn't do quite as well as expected and there were a lot of jokes about how many bronzes we won. The bronze we lost in the men's 4X100 was particularly heartbreaking. Listening to my father explain the rules of tae-kwon-do was particularly hilarious. Watching the Brits cheer on that Mo guy to the 5,000 and 10,000 was awesome. But most of all, watching the Canadian women lose so unfairly to the Americans in the soccer semi-finals and then squeak out a victory in the bronze medal game was amazing. I played soccer all summer on an absolutely horrible team - we barely ever scored, but when we did, this is the face I was making.
The London 2012 Olympic organizing committee unveiled their mascots today. Apparently their inspiration came from two drops of molten steel dropped while making the last girder for London's Olympic Stadium.
Umm, they have one eye and are extremely creepy looking. Not unlike teletubbies. But I guess kids love the teletubbies, and mascots are really just a marketing excuse for plush toys, which will be bought for children, so in a way, Wenlock (the one on the left) and Mandeville = success!
My mother called my on Wednesday night to tell me that should I ever be competing at the Olympics and she should die, I should continue on, a la Joannie Rochette. Without a word of a lie, she said "put me on ice, I'll keep." Thanks mom, happy to know that you still have hope that one day I could be an Olympian. But I'm fairly certain the jig is up ... as a 33 year old occasional runner/skier/hiker/snowshoer/group power goer, I'm fairly certain I won't make it. Although there were +40 types competing at the 2010 games - am thinking here mostly of curlers (as previously discussed, my fave sport), but apparently there is a 43 year old ski crosser ... as DG put it, she apparently has no name or country as the announcers regularly refer to her as "the 43 year old."
So the Olympics have come to a close and there are many more best of moments that I don't remember right now, mainly because I'm too depressed that the 17 days of competition are over. But here are a few good ones, along with some bad ones too, because let's admit it, the closing ceremony was pretty bad: 1) Hockey gold for Canada ... both men's and women's. To be honest, the men winning was more of a relief than anything else. Had they lost, it would have put a damper on all the other celebrations. But thank god for Iggy and Sid. 2) The post-game celebration of the women's hockey team. Smoking cigars, drinking beer and champagne, and driving a zamboni? Awesome. 3) Marianne St. Gelais watching her boyfriend Charles Hamelin win gold in the 500 metre short track competition ... I'm pretty sure she exerted as much energy as he did. So great. 4) Bob Costas deadpanning: "here come the always-popular giant inflatable beavers," at the closing ceremony. 5) Once again, watching the closing ceremony while BB messaging with peeps in far flung places. Too bad the ceremony itself was god-awful. Nickelback, really? Avril, come on. What happened to The Hip, Arcade Fire, Feist, Knaan, etc, etc. Also, how bad was that "Let's have a party" song. How about, let's write a better song? 6) Being interviewed by Shaw TV about women kicking ass at the Olympics this year. It's supposed to air today and apparently I made some comment about being sad that I was past my prime ... it's true though. Were I 15 years younger, I could potentially have become a mogul skier or something. Probably not, but maybe! 7) Other people joining me in my love for John Morris. The third for the Canadian men's curling squad is hot. Plus he's a volunteer firefighter. Yum. Oh and he played really well.
On that note, I will end this entry. More Olympic thoughts to come I'm sure.
So the Olympics have arrived and I am firmly on my couch, in luge position, watching everything and anything. I know I've already mentioned my love of curling, but the Olympics brings this obessession to a whole new level. It helps that our Canadian teams are both doing so well. Even Gretzky was impressed (they interviewed him at one of the round robin matches this week ... he's a big fan apparently. Randomly so is Carl Lewis. Yes, the sprinter). Moving on from curling, I am equally obessesed with snowboard cross, ski cross, moguls, skeleton, bobsleigh, xcountry skiing, downhill skiing, the list goes on and on. It also helps that I got to go to Olympics this year as they are just a hop skip and a jump from Calgary. Last week I was lucky enough to see the cauldron and take in a few hockey games ... plus I got to see some of my fave people in the world so that helped to. So, below a list of my favourite Olympic moments thus far - both official game moments and just me and my friends hanging out during the Olympics. We are at day 12 already and I haven't posted anything yet, so this is an incomplete list, in no particular order and will be added to in the next few days): 1) Jenn Heil wins silver ... she was expected to win gold, but I don't care, silver is still amazing ... the speed, the steepness and the size of the bumps is insane and the fact that she is so good, is so incredible 2) Alex Bilodeau wins gold ... the big story is about his brother, but my favourite moment was on the NBC feed when right after they finished interviewing him, his girlfriend arrived, they started making out and Bob Costas deadpans "I think it goes without saying that it will be a great Valentine's Day for Bilodeau" 3) the orcas at the opening ceremony 4) while I think it was a bit ridiculous that Wayne Gretzky rode in the back of a pick up truck to light the outside cauldron, I loved the crazy waiters running beside him 5) watching the Opening Ceremony while BB messaging with KM in Fredericton ... sometimes technology is just awesome 6) the hug between Clara Hughes and Kristina Groves when they realized she had won the bronze medal 7) the fact that Jon Montgomery has a turtle on his helmet 8) Jon Montgomery drinking a pitcher of beer walking through Whistler village 9) Tore Vikingstad's hat trick at the Switzerland - Norway game (it helped that I was there to enjoy it in person!) 10) our awesome seats at the US - Norway hockey game 11) my friend MM hailing us a limo to get us home after dinner at Chambar last Friday night ... oh and the fact that there was a limo traffic jam in front of her house. 12) Anja Parson of Sweden winning a bronze in the super combined after a horrific fall at the women's downhil.. 13) the pants of the Norwegian curling team 14) my new Norges Ishockeyforbund (Norwegian ice hockey federation) hat 15) sitting in the sun on the steps of the art gallery watching people zip line through downtown Vancouver 16) high fiving the random American at Hub in Yaletown after Sid scored the winning shoot-out goal against Switzerland
17) MM saying "the russians are coming" when a group of russians took our table at Yoji's sushi 18) Virtue and Moir's free and original dances ... both were beautiful 19) any type of slow motion montage put to music 20) Tom Brokaw explains Canada to Americans
And finally, not really a favourite moment, but a memorable one - the fact that Joannie Rochette skated a clean short program 3 days after her mother died. She's in 3rd place right now. Amazing. That girl has guts ... the expression on her face as she finished made me bawl.
And I can't believe it, but I am not sick of the CTV "I believe" theme song yet ... in fact, I seem to hum it all the time. Who knew it would be catchy instead of annoying? Here is a picture I took of the cauldron - just to prove I was actually there.
Saturday was our annual bonspiel. That's the word for a curling tournament. I don't normally curl, but every year, once a year, some of my girlfriends and I enter a bonspiel sponsored by our favourite pub (the ship and anchor) which means it's plenty of drinking with a little curling thrown in. I don't know how to curl at all, but I always enjoy watching it on tv, which is weird, because it looks like it would be really boring, but it's not ... it is a game of inches and strategy, and it is so very satsifying when you hear the rocks hit one another on a good shot. When it's on, I just can't change the channel. I loved Men with Brooms, and whenever they show the Sandra Schmirler story on CBC I cry. All that to say, that when we actually won a game (our first in 2 years), it looked something like this:
So to sum up, I'm fairly certain that we might have a shot for the next Olympics, which I'm told are in Sochi, Russia. Privyet Russia!
