Dear Winter...

Dear winter,

Please stop. Kindly move along and allow an early spring to begin.  I appreciate that this is not the worst winter on record, that there has only been a slightly annoying amount of snow and nasty so far this year compared to others but I have had enough. After living in a part of the world that experiences all of the awesome parts of winter (and celebrates them) without it’s crappy grossness.

This is the first East Coast winter I have had to experience as a true adult and I am not enjoying it. I am out of winter wear; I’m really struggling to recycle my warm outfits to make it through an entire week in office appropriate clothing. Seriously, I would be all right if we could make 80s pant suits fashionable again at the office. I would be totally fine wearing shoulder pads for a little extra warmth. I keep a pair of wool socks stashed at my desk at ALL TIMES just in case my toes loose all their feeling.

I’m not a big baby. I can deal with the cold, but the cold isn’t what is annoying. It is being wet and cold day-in-day-out. If I spend any more time in my bathtub trying to thaw I think I will develop scales or turn into a mermaid.

The worst part?

Having to shovel snow before going to work. It is nearly 3pm and we still have not been plowed out. From the neck up I am totally ready to go to work. From the neck down, sweatys and my trusty wool socks. There is NOTHING worse than waking up and getting ready for work, shoveling a ridiculous amount of snow, cold winds blistering your skin as more snow falls from the sky and then working up a thick layer of sweat from tearing apart small mountains of snow that is packed down by ice.

Owning a dog I now know that I need to have winter boots to live in Canada. But, they are all so god awful that it pains me to think about spending money on them.

To be clear, I do not hate winter. I think I just hate winter in the Annapolis Valley. Last year winter in the Kootenays was awesome! World-class skiing and amazing winter celebrations made it all bearable. I feel like living away from the Valley for one winter really has changed how I see it now.

As I sit here stewing, waiting to be dug out of this relatively small amount of snow that kept me home from work today I really just needed to get a rant out. Again, I do not hate winter but I really cannot wait until this gross one is over.

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!

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? 

Lessons I Learned at the Tour De Soup

Saturday was Mountain FM's 2nd Annual Tour de Soup at the Black Jack Ski Club. It was so much fun! I had not been cross-country skiing since elementary school and it really showed. It was free to ski all day at Black Jack so Morning Rocks co-host Jenny Fines, 1035 The Bridge Afternoon Ride host Megan Milne and I took full advantage of it! 

How many times did I fall? I think saying I fell 20 times would be a little high. I think it was around 10 times, but there were some big falls. I even tried to take a picture of my biggest wipe-out because I left a full face and body print in some pristine, previously untouched snow. That was the only time I went headfirst and it taught me a lesson about staying in the previously made tracks. 

I also learned that when skiing with friends I provide a running play-by-play commentary. "Megan, we're not going to crash, I've got this, nope we're not going to collide.... YES, YES WE ARE!” BOOM impact, Megan took the high-road and I took the low-road into the snow.

Another lesson I learned at Black Jack on Saturday was that is absolutely soul crushing when a small child passes you on skis, especially if you are really struggling to get up again.

Make sure you come out the 3rd Annual Tour de Soup next year, to keep updated on everything going on at Black Jack Ski Club check out www.skiblackjack.ca! 

Jimmy Kimmel Shocks with 'Greetings From Sunny LA'

I’ll take being fully clothed with a little snow around. I feel weirdly bad for these people who really just wanted to wish us the best from warm, sunny LA; mixing bare skin and snow anywhere is a shock to your system wherever you are.

Although, a full vacation from the snow would be nice! This morning I parked in a different spot in Trail and had to dig myself out, get the car to street parking and then change my outfit because I was so snowy. Sometimes I really miss being a kid, decked out in a snow suit; ready for anything winter could bring. I do not miss forcing my body into a snow suit and that weird sweaty phase between getting the layers on and actually being outside.

One last thing I don’t miss about childhood winters, the smell of wet mittens.

There you have it, my thought process in a blog post:

LA-> Late Night TV sketch-> Snowballs -> Vacation-> Winter Worries -> Wishing for Childhood -> Being Thankful to Be an Adult

The circle seems complete.