Fresh powder

"Another 5 cms of new snow in the past 24 hours adds to the great opening conditions. Continental Divide [chairlift] will be open today! With 8 lifts running and over 50 runs to ski and ride on, conditions are incredible for this time of year! Please remember that it is still early season and there are natural and man made hazards. Ski and ride with care."

I woke up this morning to a phone call from my boss asking me to come in at 3pm instead 10am. After agreeing to come in later, I almost went back to sleep when I realized that it was Monday and that Monday was a great day to go skiing. Brewster, the company I work for, has 2 corporates passes available to any employee. You need to reserve them ahead of time and sometimes fight for them. But not on a Monday... So I called head office and signed the pass out for the day. I headed over to Sunshine Village (www.skibanff.com) for a few hours of outdoor bliss. And let me say it was worth every minute of it. As my first day of skiing in the Rockies, I was blown away... Skiing in the Laurentians will never be the same anymore - I will always remember the pure amazement of skiing here.

I knew a friend of mine was skiing at Sunshine for the day too and so I stopped by his work to catch up with him, but apparently missed him by minutes. Anyways, I went anyways and when I got off the lift for my first run, I saw him standing there ready to go. He had just gotten there too. I was really happy to find him and get to ski with him for the day. It's always better to be a pair! Plus, I think I might have found a great partner of my caliber for the season. Great first day!

We have this thing in my family where, whenever anybody is doing something great, we call each other from where we are to annoy them and make them jealous a bit! It's done in love, and since we all have our turn of being the one calling the other to brag about something, we love it when they do because it means they're thinking of us. All of this to say that I called my brother Marc today to brag about my day on the slopes. Actually, I was hoping this would help convince him to come over for New Year's. I think it did!! :)

I want to take the time to wish my uncle Luc a happy birthday! He turned 50 a few days ago and my whole family threw him a big surprise party. I called my dad's cell and had the chance to get passed around and chat with Grandma, my cousins, my aunt, and siblings. It was great to talk to them even though I was unable to be there. Funny how I hated those family gatherings when I was younger, but I really enjoy them now because I can appreciate the value of family ties and the special bond that connects us. Oh well, enough mushiness on my part. LaRoche, out!

More news soon...

Love, xxx

Annik