Week Fifteen.

This week we have been a poorly bunch. I think finally all the hours we put in at work over the last couple of weeks have caught up with us and our immune systems have royally failed. I spent three days pretty much bed bound, to the point where I was actually excited to leave the house to go to the recycling centre. It was not fun.

I had my last shift at the Body Shop at Saturday and stocked up on enough stuff to keep me going for the rest of the year. Our bathroom looks like the stock room for the Body Shop, it's a little excessive I may admit. I'm looking forward to starting full time hours at Saltlik. Set days off to go up the hill, more opportunities to make and save money, and day shifts there are so chilled and laid back it hardly feels like work half the time. It will be nice.

Luke left us to go to Australia today. It's going to be so weird, and very quiet, not having him around the house for ten days and it's such bad timing completely overlapping Danny's brother Tom and our friend Rich coming to stay. But these things happen. I am super jealous of him getting to spend time in that boiling hot heat when we are preparing to descend back into the minus 20's again. Coachella cannot come quickly enough!

Danny and I went out to dinner at the Waldhaus on Sunday which was lovely, and then we met up with friends at the brew pub for some beer, or in my case Grey Goose Cosmos - how very posh... They have loads of games there which is pretty fun, so we opted for a game which involved putting hats on your head with a card attached with either a person, place or object on which you then had to guess using yes or no questions. People got pretty into it lets just say that.

We went for a walk up towards tunnel mountain on Monday. The weather was beautiful, and although neither of us were feeling particularly good we needed to get out the house so a brisk stroll in the sun was well received. Sometimes I get so caught up in work that I forget what a beautiful place I live in and how lucky I am to be here. Walking down the road to get a coffee and practically bumping into a huge elk is pretty frickin awesome, something I don't think I'll ever get used to.

Now that I am pretty much back to full health I am looking forward to smashing out the rest of this weeks work, most of which will be double shifts before Tom and Rich arrive on Saturday and then enjoy a few days skiing and socialising. We've got a lot to look forward to, next weeks blog post will be a good one, that's for sure.

Dinner at the Waldhaus.

It's finally the end of a very long week and I have three, yes THREE full days and nights off of work and of course I am beginning to get sick. It's been doing the rounds at work and around the house so I knew it would hit me eventually, it was excellent timing. But despite this, Danny and I had the evening off together so I pulled myself out of bed and we headed for a freezing cold walk up to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel for dinner at their Waldhaus Restaurant.

It was recommended to us by the expo at work and the menu was pretty different to most restaurants around the town that we've tried so we thought we may as well give it a go. It was lovely. The restaurant resides in a cute little hut down a windy forest surrounded staircase with a quaint little pub underneath. It really is very picturesque little place, I loved it.

To start I had the lentil soup, and Danny had the rosti smoked salmon salad. The soup was incredible, full of flavour and super nice with a sore throat and a cold, so warming. I then had the Wiener Schnitzel which was breaded veal, accompanied by spatzle which is a weird pasta/potato kinda thing (surprisingly good), seasonal veg (which I of course passed over to Danny's plate) and the most delicious lingonberry preserve. SO GOOD! Danny went for the Venison medallion, which also came with spatzle, winter veg and a black garlic jus. We washed it all down with German beer and red wine sangria, classy!

Everything was so so tasty, our server was awesome and knew exactly what to recommend us and the surroundings were just lovely, if a little eery. We then went and had a little wander around the hotel. It's so beautiful and absolutely huge, we're hoping to visit the spa at some point, maybe when we win the lottery! But it's pretty cool to be able to just walk in and look around as much as you want, there's some really cool stuff to see and plenty to explore. I definitely want to go back. No doubt about it.

Week Fourteen.

This week has been a CRAZY week at work. It has been family weekend in Alberta which is pretty much the equivalent of the English bank holiday, and it has made for absolute mayhem. Saltlik has been non stop from the second we walk in the building, to the second we leave. Don't get me wrong the money has been amazing, my tips have sky rocketed, but there is just no time to catch up on sleep and it is exhausting!

On the topic of work, this week I handed in my notice at the Body Shop. I love working there and the girls I work with are awesome, and of course the discount is a huge perk but trying to juggle two jobs just means I am working constantly and getting no time to myself or to go skiing which is not ideal.

From the beginning I always said I moved to Banff to enjoy myself and learn to ski/snowboard and have fun. Of course I need to work and earn enough money to support us and pay for our travels but not in a way that means sacrificing the aforementioned. So unfortunately this was the result, something had to give. I have taken on a few extra hours to even out the wage I would lose, but I now have 3 confirmed days off every week to ski and evenings to myself to relax (and drink a lot of wine). It's the perfect scenario for me right now.

I only managed to ski once this week at Sunshine which is unfortunate, but at least I made it up there once and I know that things will be better from here on out. I'm getting so much more confident with my skiing now and picking up speed but I still want to get into snowboarding. I see how much fun all the other guys have and I want in on it. Saying that, it was so icy I'm not so sure I would have been having more fun if I had been boarding! We definitely need another big dumping of snow. This warm weather is nice, I mean it's lovely not having to wrap up in 6 layers to leave the house, but it's definitely not ideal for skiing. It's going to be awful if it carries on this way, so cross your fingers for us to get some snow coming!

Our Christmas present from Danny's Mum and Dad arrived this week which was such a lovely treat. I got probably the cosiest pj's I've ever had in my life and some slippers, and Danny got a million pairs of socks, a really cool toque (bobble hat to all you back home) and a DVD called chef. Oh and some Christmas themed boxers of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without them! So thank you Trisha and Colin - I know you're reading this as the message reached me that I needed to get into gear and get some more posts up for you so here you are, enjoy the mention!

AND OH MY GOD I don't know how I almost forgot. This week we also were introduced to the wonder that is Beaver Tails.  It is pretty much a flat, ridiculously sweet doughnut, covered in a variety of toppings. I had skor cheesecake which was basically cheesecake with dime pieces all over it, and Danny had nutella, peanut butter and M&Ms. So so so so so SO good! We felt crazy sick afterwards and just sort of settled into a food coma in bed, but it was well worth it. Maybe next time though we shall share. But then again, probably not.

Danny and I were supposed to have the night off together tonight so were going to go for a belated Valentines meal, however he got called into work. Sad face. So instead I am now going to sign off, settle into bed, drink a glass of red and read one of the new books I bought. What an exciting life I lead. Night all...

Vans Hi Standard.

Today we all had an awesome morning up at Norquay ski hill watching Danny in the Vans Hi Standard Comp. The basis of the competition was that for every trick that you landed you were given 5 bucks but it was all about style, no more than a 720. There were lots of other technical terms used, that despite my best efforts, I had absolutely no idea what the boys were talking about but I think that was the jist of it.

There was a 45 minute test run and then the group was split into the 15s and under with the 30+ and then the 16-30's. Some of the children hitting the kicker were so God damn little, it made me feel a little bit pathetic that I won't even attempt a tiny little box, but that's another rant entirely. The weather was beautiful and warm and sunny and I genuinely felt like I was in France in April, it was the perfect setting for 3 hours of sitting watching snowboarding, I loved it.

Danny did an awesome job too, he landed all 6 of tricks he attempted which is pretty damn good considering how many people were there! It was nice to go and watch a competition where everyone wasn't injuring themselves, though one dude did keep insisting on trying to do a flip and landing on his head. Not cool. Not cool at all. Jeremy particularly enjoyed trying to comentate on proceedings which was rather enjoyable for the first 5 or so minutes. Not so much after. But it was a great day out, only ruined by the fact we all knew we had a crazy Valentines evening at work ahead and it was going to be mayhem.

And here you  have it...

Week Thirteen.

This last week has been pretty busy to say the least. I worked the busiest day I have ever worked at Saltlik on Saturday, spent probably too much money on treats for myself and Danny and went to Lake Louise for the very first time, at last!!!

It's been snowing a fair amount here so I was ridiculously excited to head up to Sunshine and ski on something that was not ice! Well lets just say it was not half as fun as I had hoped. Skiing on deep powder is hard. I have absolutely no doubt that it is just me being useless and not skiing in the way I should for the terrain but it was just not enjoyable in any sense of the word.

For a start it took us an hour and half to get to Sunshine as the roads were so bad, and when we got there the gondola was on a go slow as the staff had only just arrived. Then when we finally got up and on the hill, I fell over within 30 seconds of skiing. Boy did I fall hard - complete yard sale. I had to dig around to find my poles and then when I did it took me about 10 minutes to get my ski back on, I looked liked a complete bloody idiot. I just cannot wait to start snowboarding now, skiing is beginning to frustrate me. Like I said, I am sure it is just my inability to ski properly but I just feel that everyone else has way more fun on their boards, and I want in. Snowboard lessons are on the agenda for next week for sure!

On a happier note Danny and I have had three nights off together in the last week which has been awesome. It's so nice to spend some time together away from work and the ski hill. We cooked an awesome Coq au vin with dauphinoise potatoes on Saturday which was so ridiculously good! It was my favourite meal when I was younger so it was nice to be able to share that!

And onto the spendathon. I've been doing so well saving it's about time that I had a bit of a blow out. I treated myself to the new iPhone 6. Sharing a phone out here with Danny has been fine but it's just a bit of an inconvenience so we got ourselves one each and I love it! It's just so nice to have a phone that works out here to text and call and still be able to keep in contact back home. I had the most lovely voice message on WhatsApp of Libby telling me she loved me which did make me slightly homesick I must admit. I'm hoping to skype home on Saturday as it's Sophie's 18th so fingers crossed I get to speak to everyone then!

I also bought Danny a new snowboard as an early birthday present. It was supposed to be a surprise, but of course, being the clever sod he is he figured it out and spoilt it for himself. It's currently being shipped from Switzerland to the UK for Tom to then kindly bring it out for us at the end of the month when he visits. Fingers crossed Danny can figure out a way to temporarily fix his board until then!

I feel like I have written oh so much in this post so I am going to leave it there and pop up some lovely pictures for you to all get jealous over. Enjoy...

Lake Louise.

I FINALLY went to Lake Louise today, and it was absolutely fantastic! It was so nice to go somewhere where the ski runs were nice and long, and most importantly fun. Sunshine is a great ski hill, but I think when you go to the same place over and over again it becomes a bit repetitive so it was refreshing to go somewhere new and explore. I really enjoyed myself. 

 

I kept lapping through the park with everyone else, just so I wasn't too left out (obviously I didn't hit anything) but it's cool to watch everyone else. I could honestly just sit there and watch the boys hit kickers all day and take pictures, it looks frickin awesome! 

We had a free lunch voucher from our Banff Ambassador course too so chowed down on some pretty good poutine and a blue cheese burger, washed down with a ridiculous amount of root beer. Safe to say I could not go back out and ski after I was that full. I'd done a solid 4 hours so I was happy. 

We then headed on over to the actual Lake Louise which is still completely frozen over, despite the fact the temperatures are getting rather high now. The ice castle is still standing tall on the lake and there were a fair few people there. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule so there wasn't time for ice skating but it looked so stunning, the view was enough - I'm sure you'll agree...

Week Twelve.

This week has been pretty busy, but in a good way. I treated myself to some lovely new clothes from Billabong. They were all in the sale, which makes it even better. I got the cutest wrap around cardi, some ripped jeans, and a real boho blouse for Coachella. All three of those items cost less than the jeans should have done originally. Well done to me and my bargain hunting!

Danny and I went out for dinner at Bear Street Tavern for our little Date Night treat and boy was it good. They have specials on all the time, so we took advantage of cheap pizza and bear and had the most incredible pulled pork nachos. They are a ridiculously sized portion and we definitely didn't need the pizza after it but it was worth the 'I want to be sick I'm so full' feeling we endured for the rest of the evening.

On Thursday night Halie and Fabian introduced me to the bright lights of the bingo world. Its the craziest thing, people queue up, they check ID, you can't wear hats - it's like a night club, it's so strange. But it makes sense, the stakes are high! You can win $1000 on one of the games, and you only have to spend $3! Cheap drinks, lots of prize money and a fun evening out - I want Thursday nights off work every week!!!

Unfortunately the lovely Allira who I have been working with at Saltlik for the last 3 months is leaving Canada to go back to Germany with her boyfriend so I went and met her for a few drinks at Mel's to bid her farewell. I'm super sad that she is going as she is so nice to work with and always cheers me up on a crappy evening so I will miss her. Plus we wheel and deal for each other with Body Shop and Davids Tea goodies. She got me a nice pink flask and some fruity herbal tea which is delicious!

We continued the going out extravaganza on Sunday as it was Luke's birthday. We went out for a few drinks at the Rose&Crown with everyone from work. It is nice to hang out without the stress of work and all of the annoyances that go with it. We work with some really awesome people so I enjoy getting to know them outside of the work place. before attempting to head to the Dancing Sasquatch which is the night club here. The queue was ridiculous and didn't move in 20 minutes so we gave up and went home, and so the no partying streak continues.