Holy smokes, the last few weeks have just gone by so incredibly fast, it feels like a big blur!! SO many things have happened, let me do a quick recap:

It’s okay to be jealous

– I’ve recently taken up skate skiing (a type of cross country skiing,) and I’ve become incredibly hooked on it! It marries not only an aerobic workout, but also quite a strength tester (especially if you have poor form, which I do.) BUT, I can tell you this, I am ROCKING the retro neon coloured skis and boots (huge thanks to the Holtham’s for lending me their old pair!) I may not be the fastest out there, but damn do I look awesome doing it (think circa 1990’s.) After a couple of weeks of heading to the hills (getting help from Jenn Kohm and David Palermo as how to actually do it,) I’m starting to get the hang of it. So much so (see: over confidence,) that I’ve gone out on a limb and signed up for Sigge’s Payak, coming up on February 23rd. First race of the 2013 season!

Abby: Guardian of the Gifts

– Christmas went exactly as I hoped it would, full of family, friends, fun, and probably WAY too much food (and I don’t mean kale salads kinda food, I mean Aunt Tricia’s ridiculously amazing baked goodies and Uncle Brian’s candied yams (heavy on the ‘candied’) kinda chow!) It also brought with it some amazing presents, two of my favourite being from my parents: a painting that I’ve always admired at my parents house, which they were so gracious to have framed and gave it to me, as well as a Kuvings low-speed masticating juicer (beet juice anyone? Increases your oxygen carrying efficiency!) I spent the day with my folks: making them a rather solid egg scramble for breakfast (and yes, I DID sneak kale into it, so dad has officially eaten kale now!) opening (and more satisfying, watching them open) gifts from everyone, getting out for a stubbornly difficult 21km run, polishing the days festivities off with a huge family dinner and the traditional poker game (where my grandma, bless her soul, proceeded to scrape our pockets clean of every last penny!)

By night’s end I was in the red…..

Slow-speed juicing AWESOMENESS!

My favourite gift, painted by a Coquitlam Fire Fighter.

– New years was spend between Cypress and Callaghan Valley Whistler Olympic Park, where I managed to get some solid skate skiing in with Jenn (as well as some snowshoeing, another first for me!) It was Coconut Curry left-right and centre on NYE and new years day for us, as we cooked up enough to feed us for a week (well, at the rate we eat food, MAYBE two days.) It was stunning, I will have to post up the recipe for the concoction very soon.

NYE sunset at Cypress Mountain

Coconut Apple-Tofu Curry!! Delicious, healthy, and vegan.

Speaking of concoctions, I’ve been told by many people that I need to start blogging my recipes and creations, so I think one of my new years resolutions is to try and post more about the delicious foods and smoothies recipes that I’ve been amassing lately (although, I never was one to make new years resolutions……) But, as I do love to see people enjoy things that I’ve flung together, I’ll do my best. The hardest part is when I’m cooking, there’s not only a flurry of things going in, usually I don’t measure anything, it’s more of a “bit of this, bit of that, needs a touch more of those and a few of them…..” You see where I’m going with this. I’m doubtful I’m the only one who does!

Whistler Olympic Park, Callaghan Valley

Well, the new year is off to a good start already, spending hours skate skiing and riding in the last two days already. What did you do to kick off 2013? Any 100×100 swim workouts? Any big resolutions? Regardless, I wish everyone the best of 2013, I can already tell it’ll be the best year to come by in a long time (including the year they invented sliced bread, although that was a pretty great year.) May all your goals and ambitions be hard-sought but completely attained by this time next year!!!

Happy training, set those goals, eye on the prize, and fight like hell for everything you want to accomplish this year.

I know I will be.

Nathan