We should all take note!

http://www.highcascade.com/summer_camps/youth/youth_daily_schedule.html

^^ My kids are so going to be sent there! Hell, I will probably send myself there it looks like so much fun!


I have been super lucky!! A few weeks ago I was chosen to be the passenger in a Snow Cat. Schweitzer has a ski magazine that they put out annually and I was the writer for their employee spotlight article. (Soon I will be published!!) I interviewed Dave Rowe the head of Snow Services and Special Projects on the mountain. He is the head groomer and he picked me up at the resort's hotel at 1:30 in the morning.
It was awesome being a night rider. I don't know how the guys in grooming get used to the graveyard schedule, but it was awesome this one time around. I had the luxury of riding in the winch cat, which is a special groomer designed for steep and narrow runs...so you can assume what kind of terrain we were grooming.

I set out to ask Dave my list of questions as we made our way up "Kaniksu" and "Bud's Chutes" (which are runs I won't even ski because they are so steep!) It was awesome to talk to Dave. He is a real "salt of the Earth" kind of guy. You know the type that keeps our days running because he is a genuine person and "jack of all trades and master of EVERYTHING." When it comes to snow and winter, there isn't anything this guy hasn't done. Don't you love when you meet people like that? People who just refresh your vigor to live, because of the way they approach the world and you wish to emulate it! It motivates you to improve your own life!

At one point, it was really funny, we stopped to take a break and he offered me a trail mix bar. We sat there like two old friends with our feet up on the dashboard just talking about life. Honestly though after that interview, I do feel like he is the type that would have your back after only a brief meeting.
Anyway I groomed with him until 7 in the morning, which was pretty grueling. I don't know how they don't fall asleep to the rhythmic patterns of the cats going up and down. What I left with though, was some great advice. My last question to him was; "what lessons are you trying to impart on your 2 daughters?" His answer was nothing short of perfect and inspirational. We should all take note.
He said the most important things to learn are:
Be true to yourself. Live your life with integrity and honesty.
If you say you're going to do something, follow through.
If you make a mistake, own up to it.

Such simple advice, but so true. We all have intuition and instinct and the ability to decipher right from wrong. When we are doing something that doesn't sit quite right, it is probably because we are stretching the situation in the wrong direction. As long as we follow the above expressions then we can't really go off of our path. Life doesn't have to be complicated! Dave is a great example of that. He is doing what he loves every day and he doesn't try to make it into something it isn't. He embraces it for everything it is meant to be.

A Photographic Melange

Here is a feel for what the terrain is like at Schweitzer. I didn't personally click the trigger to take these pictures, but we have to do a lot of filming and photographing throughout the day. So I have tagged along on a few of these expeditions. I wish I was as talented as the guys snapping these photographs and for that matter, skiing and riding in the pictures!

I am thinking of all who are reading my blog! Thank you for staying interested!

I'm Famous!

I was in a commercial for Schweitzer Mountain! Based on no real talent, they just needed a third member to diversify the "cast." Every week they create a new skit emphasizing different activities or weather around the resort. I am in the tubing frame! I don't normally sit with my hands out like so in the commercial. I am not really sure what I was thinking, but I am famous none-the-less! (You can check it out, but for some reason this link only goes to Schweitzer's homepage and then videos are on the right side of the page and it is the 2nd video in the line-up.)

I finally took my terrain park lesson. It was crazy. I learned so much stuff and I am so much more confident. Not that I know what any of this means, but I learned how to do an ollie 190, butter turns while snowboarding down the mt. (these are just doing 360's in motion), I learned how to do a spin off of a jump (although I can't land this one. I always fall right on my tailbone) and I learned how to do a 50/50 and some other crazy trick that resulted in many a bruise on the metal box in the park. It was crazy and a lot of work, but I am so glad I took it. The major thing I learned is that I have to commit to the trick I am going to do. If I, even for a second, take my eye off of the landing or question what I am doing I will ruin the trick and fall. Case in point, I clipped my hip, neck and tailbone trying to master one trick off of the box-sets. It really hurts to walk today. Also isn't this a lot like life!?

After my terrain park lesson, my instructor must have seen potential in me b/c he mentioned he was going to go trek through the woods and build a jump and snowboard down to it. Although he put the offer out, I basically forced my way into that outing. There was no way I was going to miss this. I met him the next day early in the morning and little did I know what was in store for me. He kicked my ass! The one type of trail I haven't gone on are double black diamonds and what does he have me do all the way down...? He had me weaving out of the most narrow trees all while keeping up with his speed and it was crazy foggy, you couldn't decipher ground from sky yesterday. There were a few moments I was sure I was going to die. But I made it through and I was pushed to my limits, which is how you become better at what you do. I am glad I went. I had a real off-trail experience and the exploring was great.

The more I push myself, the less I become afraid of things. And it resulted in getting a home-cooked meal out of it when a few of his fellow ski instructors needed to have a ride home. The classic barter system of the ski bum. I don't know how they live comfortably at all. It's definitely not for me, I depend too much on consistency. But the crazy snowboarding, I will take anyday.

Continuing the trend

This awe-inspiring writer whose blog I have been following, has done something that I think is pretty cool. She has written down how she learned to argue from her parents. Now I am sure that her parents read her blog and I have to admit it is a little ballsy to call your parents out when you know they will be reading your blog, but that wasn't her point at all.

We all take on characteristics from our childhood and it isn't anyone's problem, but our own. Our parents didn't mean to yell in front of us or give the silent treatment when they thought we weren't looking, but people fight and sometimes the outcome isn't beautiful. Sometimes (ok a lot of the time) the outcome is divorce.

I never thought about how devastating divorce is. I never had a negative connotation of it because it was so necessary in my house. It was a sigh of relief rather than a gasp of fear.

So by writing down how I learned to argue (and some of these tactics weren't taught by my parents. Some of them I created myself) I am holding myself accountable. It is now documented.

• I never tell you how I am really feeling even though it is clear that I am upset.
• I can give the silent treatment
• I bring up the past, which makes it so any relationship can never grow
• I can resort to name calling
• I will slam doors
• And as annoying as it is for those I am having a heated discussion with, any inflection in one's voice and I automatically think they are yelling at me.

I haven't figured out a better way to fight beyond NOT doing those things above, but I have learned that a fight doesn't mean that everything is a bust. The fact that I would run away from any sign of difference or hide behind any of the above tactics just proves the point of how afraid I used to be of looking in the mirror at my own reflection. There are better ways to prove your passion for a point and it has nothing to do with acting like a 10 year old girl. (This doesn't mean I have been able to realize when a relationship stops being worth fighting for! Any tips on that would save a lot of my time;)!)

Because the fact is, divorce is devastating no matter how necessary it may be at times. You promise everything you have to someone and years down the road you have to take it back. The road to recovery for all involved is long. (But if we are being honest, if you ended up divorced, perhaps you didn't wholeheartedly promise that other person anything.)

But what do I know! I am only 22 and I just thought it was cool to lay it on the line about what I do poorly when it comes to fighting! So in the next phase of my life I will be a gentle warrior! How would you want to be described when it comes to fighting?

Talk to you soon!

I hate to be a copy cat. Mostly because I like to think I am the only person in the world full of original ideas, but I have been reading a friend's blog and I am so inspired by her style of writing. She is very honest and I am sure it is cathartic for her and liberating.

There is a little bit of loss of control when you put your thoughs down and publish a post. You want to be censored so your readers will think the best of you and you want to say things that are profound so people will just be enraptured by every authentic thought you have ever had. This is not always the case and what I am slowly, so slowly learning is that's it ok. Just be honest. I don't always have to be entertaining. And I should put my weaknesses down on paper. This is the whole point of my year of traveling...to get in touch with myself and have the outcome be the very best version of myself that I can be. The only way to do that is to come face to face with the things I want to change about myself!

So my friend's honesty in her blog when it comes to admitting to her mistakes, spelling out her shortcomings and weaknesses and how she is overcoming them is so inspiring. So energizing is her writing, that I am going to emulate it a little bit.

The number one thing I am mainly focused on is ensuring that I don't need anyone to validate who I am. There was a time when I spent a number of years clawing the life out of those around me because I was too afraid to stand on my own. I needed to be accepted by EVERYONE, which meant I stretched myself thin between different groups of people, many of which weren't people I should have been spending any time with. But if each and every one of those individuals liked me or thought I was funny or pretty or interesting, it meant that I had a successful day. But an exhausting one at that. Picking up on other's behaviors and trying to mimick them, hiding my true feelings about a particular subject or putting myself in situations I wasn't comfortable with meant my emotional energy was completely drained and at times at a deficit. This was because I wasn't happy with myself. The silence of being alone was worse than the noise of being with people who I didn't really care about and who didn't really care about me.

This is something in particular that is important to conquer immediately. The more I stand independently and enjoy hobbies that I have created out of my own joy, not others, I feel more and more secure with myself and more clear on my path in life. I however see many women my age who haven't even begun this process. They still think they need to have a significant other to be in love, rather than realizing the first person to have a relationship with is themselves. I am constantly wondering why this is. Where along the lines did we learn to compromise ourselves so well?

Why do we settle and why do we confuse lust for love and ignore what true intimacy is? We create situations out of nothing just because we are alone. For me, I know I feel the most guilty when I know I have sacrificed my values to make myself believe something other than fact because at times the truth can be something I absolutely don't want to hear.

Realizing these things is important NOW. I do not want to drag these issues that I am chipping away at to roll over into a relationship. And that is probably my biggest concern. For myself and my other friends who may be wasting their time or by-passing important issues. I am nowhere near looking to be in a relationship, marriage is so far off of my radar and dating is little bit of a hassle right now, but someday when I decide to settle down, I want to know that it is because I enjoy the person I am with, not because I need them.

Let's be honest, I am running out of title ideas!

Hello, Hello!

I hope everyone back home is sinking into their winter comfortably and your boots are holding up!

We have had nothing but rain all last week. It threatened to kill our snowpack and there was no powder to be found anywhere. It was quite depressing andit obliterated our MLK weekend. (I hope this wasn't the case for the Mt. Washington Valley.) This put a halt on my terrain park lesson, becasue the snow was bullet-proof. I figure since I want to learn how to jump and grab my board, I will be falling a lot. Having powder instead of rude ice catch my fall is the better of the two scenarios. So I went Nordic skiing instead.

I am pretty sure I lost 65 pounds doing that. It was quite the work-out. I was originally going to go for skate style over classic, but I was told that skate skiing might kill me my first time using it. Skate style though is much more intense and I think I do wantto try that my next time out. Since I grew up skiing, the motion is intuitive for me, much more than Classic.

If you were to see me when I first began though, I was the girl waving her arms frantically down the little bunny slope to get to the Nordic trails. And at the very end, I got lost and had to hike up a little mountain to find my way again as the sun was setting. All in all though, I will probably invest in my own Nordic equipment in the next two years.

Coincidentally I met a guy on the trails who had graduated from UMaine in the early 80's. So we made out and then got married based on that commonality.
JUST KIDDING! I just wanted to make sure you're paying attention. (Although after watching a lot of Teen Mom, aren't a lot of relationships based on even smaller similarities than that one?)
As I was Nordic Skiing though I realized that I am the most happy and productive when I am physcially active throughout the day, everyday. So that is one realization I can check off on my list of figuring out what I want to do with my life. I need to be sure that it has the flexibility for me to be outside and break a sweat!

The snow finally returned and it came down for 3 days straight! We have a whole new blanket and it was awesome trying to find all of the secret stashes. So my terrain park lesson is back on and I will be catching air and more likely than not, landing on my butt...for the first few times.

I pushed myself and I went out and did some black diamond tree snowboarding. It was amazing. At first, I was terrified. You never know when the trees are going to get more narrow and whether there will be a patch of ice to throw you off and Tree Wells catching and suffocating you are always a distant possibility. But I did it and I loved it. I went down Kathy's Yard Sale and Glade-iator, which are Schweitzer's CEO's least favorite tree skiing trails. I however, cannot wait to go out and do them again...and again.

Look at all the snow!

I finally bought a helmet. When I was a younger kid on the ski team I was forced to wear a helmet. As an adult, I don't wear one. I hate the way they feel and how they look. And for the record helmets don't decrease the rate of ski and snowboard related deaths. The amount of helmet sales have increased, but the amount of deaths each year has stayed the same. This is b/c if you're going down a mountain at 40 miles per hour and you hit a tree it is internal bleeding that is going to kill you first. So I never wore one out of spite, but of course, my Mother is on my case so I finally broke down and bought one. I look like a bubble head, but b/c of it I don't care how crazy I get on the slopes.

Now that I know my head is protected it gives me reign to bomb down the hill, b/c I don't have to worry about anything anymore. (Besides other skiers and I am always on the look-out for them.) I never really cared if I broke a bone b/c it didn't matter if I was laid out for 6 weeks or so b/c I had nothing critical to do. Now that I leave for Germany at the end of the month, I can't afford to break anything. So my helmet makes me feel invincible and my snowboarding has gotten a lot better because of it!

LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY THIS!

So I totaled my car. Seriously. The crazy road to drive up to Schweitzer that I wrote about a few blogs ago took my Jeep down. I was trying to be nice and had offered a co-worker a place to stay b/c on the weekends she has a 2 hour commute. I told her to meet me at the base, meaning to me, the bus stop at the bottom of the mountain. She took base to mean the village at the top of the mountain. I had a gut feeling that I shouldn't drive the road and typically I don't, but I didn't want to be whiny and make her drive back down. So I took it on.

Seriously, look at that sign for the turn up ahead. That is a U-turn! How is that legal??!?!

I had my car in 2nd gear and in 4-wheel drive and as we were coming out of the last switchback turn, about 3 minutes from the end of death road and I hit ice and went reeling into a rock wall. Thankfully myself and my passenger were fine, but my car sadly was not. The rocks decided to rip off my bumper and crack my radiator.


When the sheriff and tow truck came to grab my car they added insult to injury and asked questions such as "were you driving too fast?" or even worse "were you drinking?" The answer to both of those questions is no. Rubbing salt even further into the wound they both commented on how I had better tires on my car than their cars combined and that I hit the only portion of road that had a rock wall. Had I just sunk into a snowbank, I would have been fine.

I truly believe in the power of positive thought and that you can create your own utopia by making "when I" statements versus "if I" statements. If I haven't fallen into a downward spiral of negativity, haven't been mean, snarky, lazy or rude in the past year, then how could this have happened to me? How could the karmic gods deem it necessary for me to learn a lesson, especially when I am 3,000 miles from my support network. I don't even have a boyfriend here I can make be my chauffeur!

The caveat of positive thinking is that it only feels good when you're the one spewing it. Plenty of you back home have been trying to talk me down from my rage at being in the wrong place at the wrong time with positivity. Adages of "this happened for a reason, probably b/c you would have died in a car crash driving back home" (morbidly thoughtful!) or "be thankful you have the means to fix the mess, some people are completely SOL when they lose they're car." And yes of course now I have the excuse to buy the red Volkswagen Passat I have desperately been eyeing for the past 2 years. That I definitely can't wait for.

It still doesn't take the sting away from losing my car. You don't realize how much your car means to you, b/c how could a hunk of metal that is used simply to get you to point a and back be a physical scrapbook? Well it definitely is. The sentimental value of my car is almost worth telling the insurance agency to take a hike and paying out of pocket the costs to fix the car. And really it's not like my whole front end was demolished, the value of the car is just low enough to not warrant paying for $4,500 dollars in damages. Anyway, my Jeep got me through high school and off-roading with my friends and copious amounts of hockey equipment, carting my stuff back and forth to Orono and lastly it drove me 3,000 miles out to Idaho. That car was the perfect car for me and one of the best purchases. That and it kept me safe...I hit a rock wall and I have no scratches or broken bones.

So now I am back to good old days of being a Freshman in high school and begging for rides to and from work and not being able to do things at the drop of a hat. I am very fortunate though that Schweitzer is kick ass and they gave me a Ford Escape to take on my days off. Typically managers could care less about a traumatic injury or event that happens on their property as long as it doesn't effect their workman's comp insurance, but my directors have been awesome. They have let me vent and pose all of the questions I wrote above and they're willing to go out of their way to pick me up for work. I am really lucky.


I had to go and clean the Jeep out just the other day and give the insurance company permission to take it away. I asked the mechanic, Erik, (who is one of the nicest people I have ever met and has been so helpful throughout this whole process) what they were going to do with the car. He matter-of-factly stated they were going to take it to a junk yard and gut it. WHAT! EXCUSE ME. YOU'RE GOING TO DO WHAT WITH MY CAR??? It would at least give me comfort to know that my car was in the back of NorthEast Auto Body so I could know where it was at all times instead of being in Sandpoint, ID for the rest of eternity. Oh well, no such luck.

It was me who wanted to learn how to stop being so uptight and I wanted to learn how to let go, well I just lost a huge part of the average person's definition of what gives them freedom...the ability to go places and do things. I think this a great way to learn to go with the flow. After all that is what the possibility of all my rides are resting on! I also don't need a car for the next 6 months when I go out to Germany so this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It sucks...it sucks a lot, but I just have to get over this hump and soon I will be cruising in a fly Passat!

So a toast to the Jeep...one that took everything I threw at it and ran beautifully until the very end! And this is also a huge lesson and shout-out to trusting your gut. If you feel like you shouldn't, don't. You don't want to end up with a cracked radiator. LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY THIS!

Same old, same old, but never bored!

This is me at the Outback having their famous loaded potato. I can't even begin to describe how good these things are! The only way to get one of these is to ski down to the back basin. Totally worth it!

Ok so I am having one of those weird reflective moments. You know the kind that is in your subconcious or right at the tip of your tongue and right when you're not expecting it, it comes to the forefront of your mind?! Well as I was researching Jay Peak Ski Resort in Vermont just to get inspired for some media we are working on over here at Schweitzer and I came across a picture of a skier taking on a powder day (do we really have those on the East Coast;)?) The skier was catching an edge and doing a great spray, which eluded to the fact that this was probably a seasoned skier. One who watches the forecast, bought their season pass the second it went on sale, schedules in regular skiing runs, regardless of what it interferes with and loves to throw back a beer with the cronies after a hard day of skiing.

As I was making this judgement it dawned on me that the people I'm surrounded by out here and to some degree, myself are not that much different than this Jay Peak skier, yet we are 3 timezones away from each other. To anyone who watches "The Office," - just imagine a classic Micheal move of taking a deep breath with his hands on his knees, when he is trying to keep a secret and envision that as my reaction to this realization.

Yes, yes, yes we all understand this concept on a global scale. When it comes to race or gender or sexual orientation it all funnels back to "well we are all united by the commonality of being human." But I'll, if you will, dumb this idea down to the smaller scale of skiing. (Although skiing is no small thing!) So I was amazed by the idea of people in Vermont or Canada and even my hometown who love skiing as much as the average person in Idaho, but pushing that aside, it comes back down to the fact that we are all humans first. We may have different conditions and different ability levels and different weather patterns, but we are all just humans who love to ski and are connected by it. In fact I probably follow the same patterns of waking up, checking the weather, gearing up, driving to the mountain, tearing it up a little bit and then ending it with a beer, I am just doing it three hours behind the east coaster doing the same thing! It's nice to know there is a network out there that will catch you and provide a home. (Literally, join a ski club and there will always be a home for you.) And it's nice to know that even across 3 different time zones there are people you share similarities with. With that notion, are we ever really alone?

One wonderful thing about snowboarding is how it slaps you down every now and then just to keep you humble. Right when you think you're getting pretty good you take a digger so hard and usually in front of a lot of people that makes the red creep up all the way from your toes to your face. Those that are skiing with you, usually won't admit it, but they wonder what you're doing out on the slopes with skills as bad as the ones you just displayed. It's almost enough to make you retire your board and boots forever. I had a day like this a week ago.

I work with two Shawns in the Marketing dept. and they absolutely dominate when it comes to skiing. The older Shawn has seen and done everything when it comes to snow, skiing and resorts. So when you're on the mountain with him you can't help, but hold him back. Well through trickery he had me snowboard down a Black Diamond, claiming it was a blue. There was no way this trail was a blue. Plus I had powder up to my shins and was overwhelmed by that fact alone. I have never had snow even cover my board back home. Well I faceplanted it. If I could have sunk into the snow and stayed there forever I would have. Later that day, I decided to go out with the other intern and we had some awesome runs. We took on new trails and tried new techniques and I was right where I was before getting slammed in the face by the snow gods. I guess it's good that I have snowboarding to teach me some humility. At the very least it keeps me grounded.

Speaking of which, I took the craziest fall the other day. One of those tumblers where you do three rounds of flips before you come to a complete stop and where other skiers actually stop to see if you're ok. It was pretty humorous. I took a snowboarding lesson the other day just for kicks b/c employees get free lessons and it was definitely beneficial. I shaved time off of my turns and I am much more tight and controlled, which will help when I go down black diamonds and I learned how to manually turn, which is the starting point to doing helicopters down the mountain. My next lesson will be the terrain park!

Just Let It Be!

I went and explored Coeur D'Alene the other day. It is about a 40 minute drive south of Sandpoint. I figure if I am here, I should explore as much as I can. This is a city with a 30,000 person population, but the downtown area has a feeling of North Conway. I stopped and had lunch at a local restaurant where EVERYTHING is homemade and they host a wine bar. It was nice and it made me think of home.


I kind of like eating alone. Typically I do it if there is a bar seat available as to look less "alone," but there wasn't a real bar with seats to do so, so I took a table. I felt really exposed doing that, because waitresses typically hate to wait on singles because it means a lower bill and therefore a lower tip. Anyway I like pushing myself out of my comfort zone and it is important to be able to eat by myself.

One thing that wasn't on my radar when I moved out here was the factor of smell making me miss home. The smell of my perfume, soap and conditioner hasn't permeated the carpet, curtains or towels of my apartment. This is one thing I will have to remember when I finally settle into my own apartment; find a scent of potpourri that makes me feel like home. Pine, anyone?

They have been giving me a lot more responsibility at work, which is awesome. I am working on ads that are going to be displayed around the mountain to promote our merchandising and restaurants around the resort. I have been working a lot with Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, which is exactly what I wanted to do when I walked into this office. It's great that my directors are listening to me and making sure I get the most out of my experience out here.

I had to go and take a pictures of the local coffee shop to have advertising quality pictures for our future graphic projects. Jobs like those aren't always glamorous, but I had a lot of fun. Mondays are typically deserted so that was perfect to pretend I am a professional photographer in public. I went all in. I had coffee beans spilled all around the mugs, I ensured the swirl in the latte was perfect and the fire was going and so on. Before I knew it an hour and half had passed and I was having a great time. It is nice to feel useful!

(Notice how you read left to right and the white hat zigs right to the white espresso mug and the handle points toward the brand name! My composition is directing you towards the most important thing;) I think I am really learning something here!)

I am also making a ski video. I am learning how to cut film and put images together and pair audio with it, and I am really excited for the outcome. I think my expectations are a little unrealistic. I am hoping my video is as cool as "That's It, That's All" In my opinion, that is one of the best ski videos out there. I am still researching, but hopefully mine is a fraction as unbelievably awesome as this!

I really want this trip to teach me how to let go of some things I have control issues with and to just let go and go with the flow. Control issues typically feed our insecurities and help to ruin our prospects of being happy. I am a Cancer and we are typically pretty uptight so being out here where everyone just goes with the flow and lets life happen has been amazing. I feel like I have dropped 10 pounds off of my mental psyche and hopefully I keep losing!

I admire those who don't get upset when plans are broken or don't get upset when things don't go exactly as planned. I always wish I could have the personality type who finds beauty in the breakdown and makes the best out of every situation regardless of whether it was perfect or not. I categorize "cool" as to whether you're creative enough to be able to pick up the pieces of a SNAFU circumstance and make it ten times better and more fun than the original idea. I would say 90% of ski bums are able to do that, so let me join the party!

I get a little help from my friends

Last week Schweitzer hosted a ski club outing. This is mainly to drive the ski clubbers to use Schweitzer as their preferred skiing destination so they shack 'em up for free and give them a weekend of free skiing. The Marketing dept. had to take them on a tour of the mountain and a co-worker and myself were assigned to ski with the third group. We were paired with a ski instructor from Russia and three older ladies.

It was a windy day with big flakes of snow getting in your line of vision at all times. The powder was also just right that it covered the tips of your boots adding to the friction and slowing you down. If you aren't a comfortable skier or snowboarder it can be scary taking on just one of these elements, let alone both. One of the ladies was having difficulty making it down the mountain due to this fear and her turns were huge and about every third turn she would let herself fall to slow her already sluggish movement down. Of course when she fell she couldn't get up. My co-worker and I could sense her angst and knew she probably didn't want to continue the rest of the tour, which led her farther and farther away from the village.

We offered to escort her down a cat-track back to the village and she was ever so grateful. It was so windy and snowy and foggy that day that it was difficult to differentiate the ground from the sky and a cat-track is pretty narrow and cuts through the woods. All I kept thinking about was how crazy it would be if this poor woman got lost while we were helping her due to one wrong turn and we had to send out a search and rescue unit for her. Unfortunately the cat-track was the only way to make it back from the backside down to the village so we had to soldier on.

It was pretty slow-going, with the woman's nervousness increasing as the trail became narrower and narrower. If you can try to imagine, although it was a scary situation for her it was comical to us b/c we don't have to worry about breaking our legs, the way she felt she did. So pretending to be lost in the wild was a great movie to play out in our heads.

Anyway, once we finally reached the village and the lodge was in sight, the older lady was so thankful to us. Older generations always seem so shocked when people my age are willing to lend a helping hand. It wasn't a big deal to us because we had to make it back for a meeting, but my co-worker and I left feeling really great for some reason.


Katie and I discussed the increase in our optimism and I realized that it made us feel better to help someone out. I don't mean to sound like Mother Theresa, but this experience is definitely helping me to be more outgoing and stop and ask how some one's day is, even if I don't know them. The more I help someone out, I'm really helping myself out!

Sing me a song

I have a day off coming up soon. My schedule is a solid 40 hours a week, interning 7:30 to 4:30. This means I have to be up at 5:30am to catch the 7am bus up the mountain. You don't want to drive up the 9 mile stretch to get to Schweitzer. It s better to have a bus do all of that work for you. I am not even kidding the 9 mile stretch up to the Base is chock-full of 7 hairpin turns. These turns are so sharp they are equivalent to doing a u-turn and it is as steep as steep can be the entire way up. It is terrifying the first couple of times you head up it.

But yes, my day starts at 5:30 am to drive up this mountain and get to work. I haven't had a schedule this early since the Summer when I was participating in Cranmore's fitness club, but that was voluntary, with the option to sleep in! The earliest Iever had to get up for work or school was my Freshman year in college for an 8:30 class and there was a reason I switched all of my classes to a 12pm schedule! I am not a morning person, so I am resorting to my childhood roots and I am in bed by 8pm every night. Even New Year's Eve Night, I didn't go out. I stayed in with a glass of wine and hit the hay way before the ball even thought about dropping. Though I am remembering from the Summer and re-discovering that if you get up early, you get a lot more done in the day.

Anyway, back to the day off. Tuesday's and Wednesdays are my new days to look forward to.(Way to really say goodbye to college life. Friday and Saturday are no longer the days to be hailed!) I am heading out on the mountain, which means I need some good songs to fill up my IPod! My boarding play list is outdated and needs to be revamped for some riding inspiration! I have a few must-haves such as Revival by SoulSavers and MGMT's Electric Feel and San Jose by Joe Purdy and of course Gravity by John Mayer, but something soulful would be wonderful to add to the collection. Something to make me really ponder the meaning of life and love and what it means to take advantage of every day!
The scenery already helps me do that, with the effect of the quiet and calm that sparkling snow has. A co-worker thoughtfully pondered out loud the importance of chairlift meditations. It's a funny thought, but so spot-on, that I was surprised I hadn't thought of it sooner. We spend a lot of time riding the chairlift up and up again to get to the top of the mountain, so what are we doing with that time? Sometimes we are with our friends and other times we are sitting awkwardly next to a stranger, but when we aren't making conversation or creeping on other's conversations we have time to think. That time can be used to answer pressing questions about the drama in our lives or what we are thankful for and the plan for the next hour, day, week or year of our lives.

Thanks to certain influences in my life I always need a soundtrack to go with any of the above introspection and I know a lot of you out there are the same way! Lyrics always take on a deeper meaning to me and since the chairlift tends to bring deep thoughts to any person's mind any suggestions for this month's soundtrack would be greatly appreciated. Call, text or post your favorite song and what it means to you. This blog is so exclusive all of you followers know my number;) (And by exclusive I mean I haven't gotten that movie deal that worked so well for Julie and Julia!)

I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and your hopes and dreams and desires are all fulfilled these next 12 months! AH-HA, I think that will be the thought of the day for what my co-worker so eloquently put it, my chairlift meditations!