#ThrowBackThursday: Ski Ballet

To me, the 80s were a crazy time that I absolutely obsess over. Today’s throwback Thursday video is a salute to the upcoming Sochi games and a sport that I would love to bring back to the games. It was part of the Winter Olympics back in 1988 and 1992, it is also known as acroskying.

The hair, the outfits, the sport; to me ski ballet is the quintessential 80s sport.

Here is a clip from the Calgary games

And another gem, in this one I’m not sure if the commentator is really onboard with the sport or making fun of it. Either way, it is comedy gold for winter sport jokes.

Here is more on Ski Ballet care of Buzzfeed:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/ski-ballet-is-the-forgotten-olympic-sport-you-need-in-your-l

Viral Video: Budweiser's New Ad

Dogs and horses.

Two things I miss about being home. I miss my parent’s farm and my dog. I actually miss every dog in my family, my grandmother’s golden lab and my parent’s border collie. I even miss my little cousin Mitchell’s chocolate lab puppy that I have only met via Skype. Watching this new Budweiser commercial brought tears to my eyes, dogs and horses get me every time.  

I’m not sure that this will sell beer, but all I want right now is to cuddle a puppy.

Also, all of my co-workers hate me right now because I have personally either: a) sent them this commercial to watch and forced them to comment on it or b) drug them to my desk individually to watch it. I have watched it quite a few times and there is an office-wide sigh every time they hear the song start up again.

*sighs*

It is all part of my master plan to be given (aka forced) into the empty back office. 

UPDATE: The Rock Creek Cat In A Tree

Yesterday our lovely General Manager here at Mountain FM received word that there were cats in distress in Rock Creek. He asked me to let everyone know and call the woman who has let him know about the issues. Wendy from On the Water Campground gave me all the details about a group of cats or kittens that had been stuck up in a tree for days. She had tried to help them herself but had no way to get up the tree and turned to us to get the word out.

Wendy was very upset about the cats and to be honest with you the story weighed on me all day as well. The cats had been without food or water for days up in the tree and Wendy said they were desperately crying for help.

I was so happy to get a call this morning from On the Water Campground with an update on the story and got to speak with the hero of the day himself, Ty. Oh, the power of radio!

Sorry about the ugly paint art, we did not receive a photo of the cat.

Here is our conversation from earlier today:

Mountain FM Night at Phoenix Mountain

I just wrote about the awesome first part of my day onSaturday at the Rossland Winter Carnival. My awesome day continued with a trip to Grand Fork’s to check out Mountain FM Night at Phoenix Mountain. Now, I haven’t been downhill skiing since I was 15, nearly a decade ago. And before that it had been since I was 11. Skiing, not a huge part of young Kate’s life. I have always loved to ski, I think I would have been seriously addicted to skiing if I had not have started playing hockey and would have had more time for it. But, here we are, I am nearly 25 and have downhill skied three times; and I love it.

Back to Mountain FM night at Phoenix Mountain, well it started a little rough. My boyfriend joined me on the night adventure to Grand Forks and he wanted to test that I really am able to ski by taking me down the bunny hill. This was a horrible idea. It was like my body had forgot everything it had learned skiing in rural Nova Scotia and was intimidated by BC skiing. I had to walk sideways on my skis to get to the bunny hill, it was quite embarrassing. Could it get worse? You bet!

I approached the bunny hill, my boyfriend had already reached the top of the bunny hill. I waited my turn while all the kids that surrounded me caught the tow-rope up. When it was my turn I made it about half-way up the hill before my crappy cotton gloves gave out on the tow-rope, I frantically tried to pull myself along with the rope to no avail. My boyfriend waited and watched, I think he tried to say something to me but I was too caught up being embarrassed by the approaching child who was coming up behind me on the tow-rope. Then the rope lost all traction and I start sliding backwards towards the child behind me. The child wisely bailed off the rope and went down half the hill rather than being back-plowed by a twenty-five year old idiot sliding backwards. Part of me secretly wanted to play reverse ski-bowling into the children to see how many I could scramble. The other part of me wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

I managed to hold on to the rope as I slide backwards and then with a massive jolt I began moving forward again and gained a little ground up the bunny hill. I could feel the blisters forming on my thumbs so I let go and skied off before getting to the top. This is possibly the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me in front of my boyfriend (he missed me eat-it cross-country skiing a couple weeks ago). As soon as I was within communicable distance with my boyfriend he shot off down the hill. While cursing him, I debated how bad it would look if I had as much trouble going down the hill as I did going up the hill. I discovered it could not be as embarrassing and shot off.

We met at the bottom and I made him promise to not make me do the bunny hill again. I used to think there was nothing as embarrassing as being passed by a small child on skis, I was wrong. The most embarrassing thing truly is halting the tow-rope line on the bunny hill while scrambling to hold on and pull your pants up. The poor kids behind me definitely got a little skin show; I need to by proper snow pants.

It has been said that I am relatively fearless on skis, which is kind of true. My first hockey practice when I was 12 years old (I had just quit figure skating to play hockey and had never skated in hockey skates before) I was really proud of myself that I did not fall at all. I was skating astonishingly slow, with flailing limbs; but I did not fall. My father was not impressed, he told me that was not how to measure how well I was doing and that falling meant I was really trying; I guess I took those words to heart because I tend to fall a lot as an adult… especially skiing.

Anyways, I only had one real wipe-out skiing at Phoenix and it was on my first run of the night. After the bunny hill everything seemed to come back to me really quickly. I have a nice little snow burn on my side to commemorate my only real skiing fail of the night on my first run, the tow-rope welts on my thumbs  are much worse. I was much more of a disaster on cross-country skis (somehow).

Thank you to everyone at Phoenix Mountain, you made my first night skiing trip memorable and managed to test my relationship! I think we passed our first trip skiing as a couple, I managed to not embarrass my boyfriend after the bunny hill experience and no one was injured.

I think Phoenix Mountain is the perfect starter hill, I am so happy I warmed myself up skiing there! It would be a great place to take the family and everyone there was incredibly nice! There is a full canteen with everything you could ever wish for food-wise. I can’t wait until Mountain FM night next year, I hope we see you there!

For more about Phoenix Mountain click here.

The 117th Rossland Winter Carnival

What a crazy weekend!

I believe I have the best job out there. 

My Saturday started with a trip to my first ever Rossland Winter Carnival. This year was the 117th Rossland Winter Carnival and it was the talk of the station all week leading into the great event. I love Rossland, if it was closer to the station I would love to live there. I get excited whenever I get to go to Rossland, so I was pumped to say the least to get to go to Day 3 of the Winter Carnival. 

It got off to an interesting start, we parked on a side street and walked down to Columbia Avenue, but the street we took was covered in snow and people were snowboarding down it! It was incredible, there was a live DJ mixing for them and people took turns completing their trick run. One snowboarder almost ate-it and nearly came off the snow covered part of the street and into me as I watched. It was slightly terrifying, but overall very cool! I have never witnessed anything quite like it!

The Mountain FM and 1035 the Bridge team was hard at work when I got to our Columbia Ave. location, handing out hot chocolate, coffee, popcorn, Queen City Crisps with Antoinette's Dip (what nice people, eh?). Our team also gave away Mountain Sky lip balms and I must say, I snagged one and love it!

On top of interacting with everyone attending the Rossland Winter Carnival I got to check out the many food vendors and explore Rossland's Columbia Ave. like never before. I made my first s'mores on the street, it was amazing! S'mores flavoured things just cannot compare to the real thing! Everyone told me I burnt the marshmallow, but I still thought it was addictive... so tasty!  

I can't wait until next year's Rossland Winter Carnival, it truly is the perfect winter festival. To be honest with you, I have never been to a Winter Carnival and I am not sure any other could compete with the Rossland Winter Carnival.

Keep up with the Rossland Winter Carnival all year long and get involved volunteering at the 118th Rossland Winter Carnival by checking out www.rosslandwintercarnival.com!

Rockin' Read: Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

I was a wee baby when Seattle’s music scene was creating what we now call “grunge” music. Actually, I was an idea when it all started… scratch that… I would have been the equivalent of a contemporary woman’s Pinterest board for planning an upcoming baby when it all was getting started. So, working in a radio station that plays classic rock and only the best new rock, I felt I needed to learn about the bands that earn me my bread and butter. I do know my fair share about the quintessential rock classics, I took ‘The History of Popular Music’ in university (yes, university not Greendale College); but I felt I was really missing the story behind the “grunge” music that I was certainly not allowed to listen to as a kid.

First of all, I am using “grunge” for lack of a better word and because it is pretty common place for music from this important chunk of rock history. I don’t like the label, I totally agree with people who are not fans of the word but this is just a simple blog for my station and I’m trying to not get too technical here.

So, what did I think of ‘Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge’?

Well, I will be honest with you. With the crazy morning show schedule it took me two months to read. Again, I promise to have it back to the Trail Public Library as soon as possible. I just finished it, but I took my time; I really wanted to get everything I could from it. It did take me a little while to get into the format of the book and the style that it uses to orally communicate the story from all the players; but I loved it!

It was like the script of a soap-opera turned into a documentary…that you could read. There are two-sided stories and all the drama you could possibly imagine. It balances the incredibly dark reality of some situations with the fun and the comradery that were also part of the era.

I would definitely read this one again; I think it is the perfect book to have on-hand for multiple reads.

A big, BIG thumbs up for everyone on this read; especially if you are a music lover and fans of bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Hole , Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and many others! 

The Art of Weaving Bacon

This weekend I made one of the best dishes I have ever personally prepared myself. I am not a great cook, but because I have nixed gluten and sugar from my diet I have had to start cooking a lot more. I started a blog a while ago with the things I wascoming up with and today I just had to share the dish I am most proud of, it was not my idea but it is glorious; the bacon weave.

Here it is, 10 slices of bacon weaved together to create greasy-greatness. I used half maple bacon and half thick cut bacon to add to the magic. I then baked it for about 28 minutes and topped it off with scrambled salsa eggs and back bacon with melted cheese over it all.

I love weekend breakfasts. 

Freda Kelly on Mountain FM

Looks like I forgot to post this back in December!

After the release of her new documentary 'Good Ol Freda', Freda Kelly joined us on Mountain FM to talk about her life working as the Beatles' secretary and head of their fan club. Freda lives a normal life as a legal secretary now but was part of Beatlemania and has even been given the title of “sister of the Beatles". After seeing them perform before their broke in the Cavern to rumours of romances with member of the Fab Four, Freda experienced it all and details her life in the new documentary available here. 

Here is the trailer for 'Good Ol Freda'.

UPDATE: Reddit Secret Santa

UPDATE: Reddit Secret Santa

When I signed up to take part in Reddit’s world-record attempt for the largest Secret Santa I went in with the understanding that I possibly not receive a gift from the person I was matched with. First, let’s note that the person you are matched with is not (most likely) the person you will be sending a gift to. I was always prepared for the outcome that left me gift-less, which is what ended up happening.  

Click here for my initial post about Reddit’s Secret Santa.

Today I received a great mid-January surprise, a message from my new Secret Santa! I think this is the sweetest message I have gotten in a long time! It has definitely been worth the wait! I can’t wait to see what this lovely family has sent my way. I think this is much cooler than having BillGates as your Secret Santa (and that is pretty freaking cool)!

Here is the message from my new Secret Santas!

I will keep you posted and let you know what my Reddit Secret Santas have sent me when it arrives. Yay, two Christmases! 

Here are the final totals (thanks to Reddit Gifts) for the Reddit's 2013 Secret Santa Exchange!

Coming To Our Neighbourhood: Mounties

I am really excited for the Mounties show at the Spirit Bar in Nelson coming up in March. It is the perfect way to celebrate the countdown to my 25^th birthday. One week to the day before I turn a quarter-century-old (March 24^, 2014) Mounties will be visiting Nelson. It is going to be a great show; the Spirit Bar is always an awesome time.  I can’t wait to add Mounties to the list of talented acts I have seen in my short time in the Kootenays.

Who are Mounties?

Well they are the incredibly talented: Hawksley Workman (the man himself), Ryan Dahle (LimbLifter/Age of Electric) and Steve Bays (HOT HOT HEAT).

I must admit, I was/am a huge Hot Hot Heat fan. I can still remember the first time I heard ‘Talk To Me, Dance With Me’ on snowy morning in Nictaux, Nova Scotia when we had to stop into my grandmother’s house to let her dog out for a morning #1. Yes, I understand that it is weird that I remember that, whilst my mum took care of Missy I snuck in and absorbed some much needed Much Music time. Boom, I heard it and was addicted.

So I was beyond thrilled to hear about Mounties and even more excited to hear they are coming to Nelson. It is going to be a great show, see ya there!

The technical stuff:

March 24, 2014

Doors are at 7pm.

Opening talent: Rich Aucoin and Special Guests

Click here to get your tickets now! 

‘If This Dance Catches On’

‘Headphones’

A Beautiful Surprise from Jayz Wayz Floral Art

A HUGE “THANK YOU” to Jayz Wayz Floral Art in Grand Forks for sending me beautiful flowers yesterday! I absolutely love them! MountainFM/1035 the Bridge Account Executive relayed a request from Jennifer at Jayz Wayz to me yesterday (Led Zeppelin’s ‘Misty Mountain Hop’) and in turn Jennifer sent me this BEAUTIFUL piece! I absolutely love it! There is nothing better than a nice surprise on a dreary Thursday.

Jayz Wayz just opened on Market Ave. in Grand Forks on January 6^th! Jennifer has an awesome story and a huge talent for taking flowers and making them into art. She is also very clever, Jayz Wayz is open Monday to Saturday and they are open late on Friday and Saturday so next time you need emergency flowers for any occasion you know where to go!

Thanks again!

You can find out more about Jayz Wayz Floral Art by ‘liking’ her on Facebook (click here)! 

You can find out more about Jayz Wayz Floral Art by ‘liking’her on Facebook (click here)! 

Viral Vid: Walking Dead Zombie Prank

"Good job, ya jerk!"

I would cry if someone did this to me!

I love the Walking Dead, but it belongs on the screen in my life. I love how much effort was put into helping Walking Dead superfan Nick Santonastasso prank one of the show's stars Norman Reedus (Daryl).

If your a Walking Dead fan checkout this new show from the BBC its called 'In The Flesh' and will help you get your Zombie fix with a new spin!

Drake Hosts and Performs on SNL this Saturday Night!

Toronto’s Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham) will host and be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this Degrassi: The Next Generation acting roots… Yes, we Canadians will remember that before Drake was on the scene rapping he was put through the perils of life at Degrassi from around 2001 to 2009, he was in 138 episodes as Jimmy Brooks.

weekend. As a huge SNL fan I am always apprehensive when acts double up, but this little video of Drake takes us Canadians back to his

Sometimes I forget about Drake’s time on Degrassi, to be honest with you I do it willfully. I was not allowed to watch the original groundbreaking series when it was in its rerun phase on CBC, meaning I tried to watch it whenever I could just to defy authority; no one could tell Young Kate what to do with her preteen pre-evening time. We only had two channels and it would always be between CBC’s old reruns and whatever was on Oprah that day; both were equally as scarring some days to my young psyche (but, I liked it). I never really did get into the revamp of Degrassi, but my roommate in university forced me into watching them… she loved the old and the new. So, let’s just say I have had my fill of Degrassi.

Back to the point, this is what happens when I write blogs late in the day at my desk. Drake will be hosting Saturday Night Live this Saturday Night (January 18^th)!

Viral Vid: Seattle Seahawk's Derrick Coleman's 'Trust Your Power'

Holy crap!

Could I be anymore excited for Sunday’s NFC title game featuring the San Francisco 49ers and the team that will win the Superbowl this year, the Seattle Seahawks?

I don’t think so.

This Duracell commercial is just one of the many contributing factors pumping me up for the big day.

It quickly tells the story of Seahawk’s fullback Derrick Coleman and his quest to play in the NFL. Coleman is the first offensive player in the National Football League’s history to be legally deaf. Coleman has had virtually completely deaf since age three and uses hearing aids as part of his daily life.

For a great full look atDerrick Coleman’s story click here, FOX Sport’s Ross Jones wrote a great articleabout Coleman last week.

I hope you are as pumped as I am! I can’t wait to see everyone on February 2ndat the Selkirk Saints fundraiser Superbowl Party at the Element!

Alice Cooper = Monster Golfer

My boyfriend’s parents are visiting Hawaii right now and ran into this guy the other day on the golf course! It turns out Vincent Damon Furnier (aka Alice Cooper but for the purposes of this blog we will go with Alice) is one hell of a golfer! They think they may even be distantly related! He tagged along with my boyfriend’s dad for a round and they both shot an awesome round and then Alice asked him out for another round the next day! Pretty cool, eh? Now, Alice did beat my boyfriend’s dad but it makes for one pretty cool story! You never know who you will run into out in the big, bad world!

It turns out Alice Cooper even has a book about slaying his personal demons with the help of golf!

I am still learning about golf so I hope my terminology has not offended anyone. I don’t dare to get into scores and handicaps…

Here is a great (non-golf) story from Alice Cooper care of George Strombolopolous’s Youtube channel: 

My Amazing Car Emergency Kit

Grandmothers are just the best.

A couple of weeks ago I received a large pre-Christmas package in the mail from my Grandmother and in it (along with Christmas gifts) there was a full car emergency kit. This is something I have been meaning to put together for a while now and it had completely slipped my mind. My family worries about my drive from Trail to Castlegar every day, actually I think they worry about any driving I do (that is another story for another day… okay stories). So my grandmother put together the most genius little kit just in case I ever am stuck in my car in an emergency situation. It even compliments my low-carb lifestyle.

Here are the contents:

-1 Blanket (not pictured)

-1 Facecloth

-1 Bag of almonds

-2 90% Cocoa chocolate bars (just in case my boyfriend is also trapped, she didn’t want use fighting over just one)

-A box of moist wipes (I hope this is just in case we have ribs in the car with us, not because she thinks we will need them for bodily functions. On that note, she should have included some adult diapers.)

-2 Lighters

-4 Jumbo tea light candles (for warmth and light)

-2 LED flashlights

-1 Par of glove

All I am missing now is a shovel in my car. Hockey sticks work to dig your car out of small mess of snow, but it takes a lot longer.

What is in your winter car emergency kit? Am I missing anything? 

Viral Vid: Devil Baby Attack

WARNING: THIS LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY WILL HAUNT YOUR DREAMS

Holy crap!

I may not sleep tonight.  This creepy little guy, like most viral video serves a very creepy purpose. This is not your Disneyland remote-controlled animatronic; this is what I imagine is living in the dark underworld of the ‘It’s A Small World’ ride. All part of a viral campaign for the new movie Devil’s Due (due out this Friday), it makes me very happy to not live in the same country let alone state where this monstrous creation is.

Everything about this demon child is terrifying. From its dirty little face to its screeching howls, I think this could be used as a form of birth control. I bet you anything people who see this movie will not have procreating on their minds for a good long time afterwards! 

#TUNETUESDAY: January 14, 2013

Back to enjoying Tune Tuesday in all its glory! I don't think we could have a better song to end our hiatus and begin 2014.

1. Foster the People- 'Coming of Age'

Today’s first pick is an awesome time-lapse video for one of my favorite bands, Foster the People. This is their latest for ‘Coming of Age’ the first single from Supermodel, due out March 18^th.

I think this video is a perfect fit for the new song, the artwork on the side of the building is the cover for Foster the People’s second album (Supermodel). The words the lady in the artwork is spewing are the following poem:

I ate it all; plastic, diamonds and sugar-coated arsenic as we danced in honey and sea-salt sprinkled laxative. Coral blossomed portraits in Rembrandt light; cheekbones high and fashionable. Snap! goes the moment; a photograph is time travel, like the light of dead stars painting us with their warm, titanic blood. Parasitic kaleidoscopes and psychotropic glow worms stop me dead in my tracks. Aphids sucking the red off a rose, but for beauty I will gladly feed my life into the mouths of rainbows; their technicolor teeth cutting prisms and smiling benevolently on the pallid hue of the working class hero.

Okay, the poem is more than a little heavy. Way heavier than the song, thats for sure!

Well, I am being really honest here in saying that new FTP music made my Monday. Seeing the new Foster the People video, as conceptual it is, put a smile on my face. I LOVED Torches, their debut album and I cannot wait until March to hear all the new music FTP has to offer. I think it will be worth the wait if ‘Coming of Age’ is any indicator. I like that it is a simple song with the same feel as the Torches album, I can't wait to see what they release next! I have a feeling it will also be featured right here on your Tune Tuesday blog!

2. Lily Allen - 'Air Balloon' 

And, I think we all know how much I love Lily Allen so here is second lighter video for the day. Lily Allen's latest its 'Air Balloon', hopefully the two songs balance each other out for you! They are both on repeat on my iPod. 

I don't think I need to say much here. I think Lily needed to lighten up abit herself with a track like 'Air Balloon' after a very serious end to 2013 with 'Hard Out Here' and her cover of 'Somewhere Only We Know'. For my thoughts on 'Hard Out Here' click here. 

Yes, enjoy these two tracks. A great way to kick off 2014 with two Kate Bruce favourites!