fresh powder

Friday Tanya and I took a vacation day to hit the slopes and get a lesson in the process. It was women's day at Mission Ridge and we both decided a lesson would be a great idea based on our skiing form. We can get down about anything (well maybe not the runs Phil or Don dream up) but it sure isn't very pretty. This late in the season we were pleasantly surprised to have fresh snow on the mountain - in fact our first run down we were skiing fresh powder. The snow continued throughout the day and by the end there was at least a foot of fresh snow for us to make tracks in. The lesson must have been a success since both of us even skied a black diamond run under the chair. Skiing a run under the chair is always a test of your ability and willingness to show off your less than stellar form (in my case here). For some reason skiing under the chair for an audience always seems to downgrade my skiing at least 2 levels - good thing I didn't take up acting for a living as the stage doesn't seem to be my forte. I know I am assuming others are actually watching but I know I watch everyone ski when I am on the lift myself so I don't think it is that big of a stretch. The lesson was great and maybe next year I will actually start the season with a lesson instead of at the end when I can forget it by next ski season.

Here is to fresh powder and learning how to make graceful turns (ok still working on that piece) not to mention a workout I felt the next day in my calf muscles. Guess I must have learned something new as I have never had sore calf muscles after skiing before.

blogging in crimson

Okay since I am really feeling the Cougar love today I am turning the blog crimson and gray. Lets hope my effort results in a win and if not it has been a great run!

GO COUGS!!!!

pure entertainment

Check out this link for one of the most creative websites I have seen in a long time http://producten.hema.nl/. Please wait for it to load as it may take a few minutes. It amazes me how creative someone can be. This gives me something to entertain myself with while I anxiously await the sweet 16 game that begins at 4:27 PST. Go Cougs!

how sweet it is

SWEET 16 - the Cougs are in!!! Don't know if I would even believe it if I hadn't seen the games in person - wow! I had thought the Cougs would be playing in Washington D.C. so hadn't really thought we would go but when they announced we were the 4th seed in Denver I started booking tickets. My sister Carla and her husband Dave decided to make the trip with us as well and Sam certainly didn't want to be left out after the time we had in Sacramento during March Madness last year. We flew in Thursday morning with a plane full of Cougs ready to cheer on our team. The Cougs played in the 3rd game of the day against Winthrop. We were nervous when the 1st half ended in a tie - they were playing the same type of game the Cougs do which had them struggling a bit. The 2nd half was all Cougs - and we blew them out 70-41. Even I was feeling a bit sorry for them but I enjoyed not being nervous at all for the last 15 minutes of the game which is so unlike me but even I felt it was a win at that point.

Luckily we won as we had already gotten our tickets to Saturday as well. After watching Notre Dame play George Mason I felt if the Cougs played our defensive style of ball we could win the game. The Cougar fans were into the game and even those around us in our nose bleed section started cheering for us as well - guess they figured they might as well join us though we never did convert the older man in front of us. It was a great victory - not the most exciting game but when the Cougs play I don't need excitement as my stomach can't handle it. I like being able to relax just a bit and savor the win during the game and winning by 20 points definitely makes it possible.

It isn't looking like we will be able to make it to Charlotte Thursday but going to Denver was definitely worth it. Sam and Dave even got some skiing in at Vail on Friday while Carla and I stayed up on the Friday games at the ESPN zone. I think we may have even converted Dave a bit and made the Beaver a Coug fan at least when Oregon State isn't in it. Looking forward to Thursday now and hope it is a defensive struggle against North Carolina so I could be trying to book a flight to the Final 4 - if you are going to dream, dream big.

GO COUGS!

why bother

So I have been trying to exercise more lately, which means that pretty much any exercise will be more than what I was doing previously. I started in January - no it wasn't my resolution since those never seem to make it into February. The plan was to exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes every day and so far I have been consistent other than my Mexico vacation, and those out of town weekends, those mornings when I lay in bed too long, but I digress. The exercise needs to consist of a full 20 minutes minimum - can't count the time when I am refilling my water, getting on my exercise clothes, dragging out my weights, and the time I think about exercising. So with my new exercise plan you would think the pounds would have come off but instead I my clothes fit a bit snugger than before I began exercising. So I thought to myself it was the fact I was getting more muscles and firmer - certainly that would take up more space. This seemed like an excellent theory until I realized in my condition I should really be losing weight even if I did happen to gain some muscle. After examing myself in the mirror I have come to the conclusion that my fat does appear to be firmer. Now granted my fat is still there but it seems to be less jiggly and my arms are feeling firmer though that still doesn't address why my clothes are tighter. Then I remembered that other part of the program includes eating less calories, so being that I don't really want to go to such extreme measures I will just stick with continuing to firm up the fat.

peeps!

It is amazing how creative some people are. I saw this article in the Seattle Times about the peeps contest. No longer is the peep just for eating they are now works of art. Personally I will just eat my peeps but this is definitely worth checking out.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=peeps08&date=20070408&query=peeps+gallery

a pirate birthday for #5

Justin - the birthday boy
Levi in front of the spinnaker
Justin & Angela
the treasure chest cake


My nephew Justin is now officially 5. His birthday was on February 28th but since his party wasn't until Sunday he said it was a waste of a birthday - guess the party is the most important part -which I can certainly relate too. With his love of boats the pirate theme fit perfectly. Tanya made a treasure chest cake which Sam claimed to be the best cake yet though I am still a bit partial to the train cake still. Tanya makes a cake for each party which fits the birthday theme and they always are a huge hit, though I do have to admit my favorite part is eating a huge slice. The treasure hunt was a huge favorite and Sam's idea of adding sails to the playhouse turned out very well in spite of my skepticism.