The count down begins

Only 10 days of work left!

It's starting to get hard to work with all the stuff going on right now but I have so much to do. I might have to pull an all nighter pretty soon, that'll bring back memories of the good old uni days.

Last weekend was a bit of a right off. There was a party for Maria on Friday which was a lot of fun. Maria likes to believe that she had to get all us drunk people home but I suspect she was just as drunk and doesn't like to admit it. One thing I did learn from that night was drinking doubles is a very bad thing.

Saturday was Brian's stag party (bucks night for you Aussies). We got him some interesting "presents", played paintball, went to the strippers and hit the bar. It's going to be fun when my friends start getting married as I'm learning some great stag gags, you guys better watch out :D

The last bar for the night was a Country bar. I had managed to avoid these places for the last 5 years I've been in Canada but unfortunately was dragged to this establishment Sat evening. It was the strangest thing, the bar had a lounge at the entrance which made me think it was going to be all ok, then as you pass though the lounge there is this HUGE open area with a dance floor in the middle surrounded by wooden railing which guys would lean up against drinking and checkin out all the dancing. There were also these big screen playing songs with instructional videos on how to do line dancing! It was all just too weird :p

Last trip to the Rockies

We set off on our last trip to the Rockies before we leave in May. The plan was to do a bit of skiing but mostly take it easy and chill.

We were staying at the Banff Springs the first night. It looks cool from the outside but the rooms were so so, I have to say the pool area was very nice though. We got to the hotel in time for Sunday brunch and after four full plates plus desert I give it a thumbs up ;) The rest of Sunday was pretty much a write off..... I was in some serious stomach pain after all the food so it mainly consisted of drifting in and out of consciousness on our king size bed.

The next day we hit Sunshine Village for some skiing. I decided after spending 6 winters here and never skied I should give it a go. So we rented all the gear and hit the hill, all those skiers who keep telling me they would switch to snowboarding just for the comfy boots are all big whingers, ski boots are extremely comfortable! So we hit a green run to start with, it wasn't exactly what I expected but it wasn't too bad. I refused to snow plough because it looks so lame and I ended up doing these big sweeping turns cutting everybody off :) By the second green run I had stopping down so I was ready for a blue run. The blue run was more interesting, speed comes so easily when you are on skis, I could definitely see myself enjoying this. After about my 5th run without any major spills it was time to hit a black diamond. We dropped into one and there were moguls up to my armpits :s Traversing across I didn't find a line that looked any better so it was time to hit it. Turn 1..... KABOOM..... Skis go flying I go sliding on my back head first down the mountain. Eventually I come to a stop, my knee feels like I had taken a hammer to it and I sprained both my thumbs (don't ask), my skis however managed to still be up at that first turn. Maria navigates her way to my skis and decides I hadn't gone through enough pain so why not try and spear me with a flying ski! I made sure I was on my feet and running up the hill for my other ski before she could take aim a second time.

We made it down to Canmore and stayed at some spa for the next two days. We mainly chilled out and squeezed one quick hike in before we left. I had to convince Maria we didn't really need bear spray even though the sign told us to carry it on us.... I'm sure I can run faster than Maria ;)

Going once, going twice.... SOLD

We sold our place after having it on the market for 2 weeks. We decided to sell it ourselves and not use a realtor which worked out really well, why pay the $12,000+ commission fee if you don't have to.

We ended up getting two offers on the same night! It made for some interesting negotiation..... lots of fun :) Maria didn't seem to think so though, she kept on kicking me under the table whenever I asked for more money.... what's up with that?

Tickets booked!

Two one way tickets to England (London Gatwick) from Edmonton, Canada on May 11th! They only cost $379 per ticket, I couldn't believe it. We will have to stop in Winnipeg but I'm not complaining.

That is about all we have planed so far :s Most likely we will stop in with some relatives and drop off gear then head for Turkey. I should really get in touch with those relatives ;)