my weekend in summary

this weekend was packed, productive, and refreshing... with lots of outdoor time, and lots and lots of friend time. wonderful. my friend said to me yesterday, 'i had a jamie kind of weekend' and i realized she was referring to the amount she packed into it. hey - that's a great thing, i think. if i only get 2 days off a week, i want to take FULL advantage of those days.

cooking up a storm with made from scratch spaghetti sauce and marinated tofu (food for freezing); lineup for beer at the jays game (priorities, people); jays game with the gang; multiple games of war with joshy in the hotel, while waiting for our partners in crime; couldn’t get them standing still; perfect day for a walk in Toronto; myself, and steph and I in the sun; game of thrones and painted nails in bed. 

Friday: worked a bit later than hoped, and then headed home (after a crazy busy day at work from beyond), and met a friend at my place. had some drinks while devising a plan, and then took off for an exploratory walk of the neighbourhood. the original plan was the johnny cash tribute at the gladstone, but when we arrived, there we no seats left, and we were starving. so, we heard bits and pieces, and then left to wander up ossington. ended up at the lakeview, and ate and drank ourselves almost to sleep. finished the evening with 'where the wild things are' in bed, and had to flip it off half way through, with heavy eyes.

Saturday: woke up fairly early and accomplished tons. cleaned, organized, purged, vacuumed my entire apt, laundry and tons of other jobs that I had been trying to get done forever. while cleaning, made a batch of this spaghetti sauce (vegan butter, of course - and i also used a hand blender and left the onions in), and some homemade marinated tofu to freeze, to hopefully attain the same level of yummyness that these have been providing me lately. headed out for downtown about 3pm to meet my friend josh and his brother and high school friends for the jays game. walked over to the dome from their hotel, and watched the jays crush the mariners 7-0 to make up for their loss on the friday (thank goodness I left my mariners hat at home). then, josh and I hung out at the hotel while the rest of the guys went to the red hot chili peppers concert. we played a few rousing games of 'war' while watching music videos on much music. once the guys arrived home, we jumped in cabs for the madison (to my dismay), and upon seeing the line, decided on one of my personal favourites - the pump. spent the evening there, watching the guys flirt with the waitress, and experiencing one of the best/worst couple fights ever. cabbed home after saying bye to josh and another friend, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Sunday: woke up and spent a few hours in bed - eating breakfast, watching game of thrones, and rewarding myself for my productive day before that... and, being in a ton of back pain for no good reason, I figured I better take it easy for a bit. once I pulled myself out of my comfortable bed, I ventured out for the errands I had to do - returning clothes, grocery shopping, getting quotes on cleaning up my computers to finally sell them. got home and things put away with just enough time to meet steph for a day long walk. we wandered everywhere with only 1 goal in mind - slurpees. we ended up walking back to her place, and her roommate ordered thai food for everyone. ate and chatted, and ate thai food until we couldn't move. steph then drove me home at about 8, and I spent the rest of the evening in bed, painting nails, watching game of thrones. after and exhausting (busy and amazingly full/productive) weekend, I was in bed, asleep before 11.

hope everyone had an amazing and wonderful weekend themselves - and took advantage of the amazing weather we had on sunday! and.... happy monday!

ultramontane and their outdoor adventures

I’ve recently had the oppourtunity to become more immersed in the downhill mountain biking culture and freeride, through spending time with people who eat/live/breathe the sport. I find myself being captured by everything about it… unfortunately, due to my back, it’s not something I’ll probably ever be able to participate in. however, the strong nostalgia of my trail running is brought to life in walking through half built bike trails, and climbing up and down berms and drops. it's my belief that regardless of your vehicle (feet, bike, all else), once you've fallen in love with a trail sport, you can find appreciation and aptitude in anything involving trails, a forest, and trees. if you have not yet trail run – please. stop what you’re doing (once you’ve finished reading my blog, of course) and put on a pair of running shoes, and go run 3k through roots and trees, and rocks and grass. I promise you it’s the best thing you’ll ever experience.

when a friend of mine showed me ultramontane, it didn’t take long for me to become obsessed. the series of videos are sheer perfection – and regardless of your feelings towards biking (which I’ve explained I don’t have much of a current investment in - i don't even have a bike after it's theft a couple of years ago), you can’t help but become enamoured with the setting – the stunning shots of the spaces they ride through, and so obviously have complete and utter respect for, are enough to make me want to quit my job and move to washington state. the simple shots of them doing things like making coffee, and sitting against logs with a drink. even the sheer perspective of some of the shots while they’re riding – the trees looming predictably large above them. it gives perspective to the world they're living and riding in. it’s so wonderfully beautiful. breathtaking even.

it’s the collaborative effort of connor macleod and derek dix. these guys are genius. their love for ‘off-season’ riding in south western BC, and their insistence to highlight the embracing of all weather riding. as they say, “there’s no such thing as bad weather. just soft people.” no. 3 . they try to convey that free-riding can happen anywhere, anytime. no need for big budget trips to warmer climate, or even huge trips to mountains – instead, using where you are, and enjoying the space around you… which I think is fair to say that we could all take a cue from. 

“Since the last release it’s been two weeks. As the crow flies…14 days. That one is for a measure of distance not time.Think about it. There have been wet days, snowy days, and dry days none of which have been exceptionally cold. All of which we have been out riding and shooting.” no 2. 

this will be an image heavy post… as that’s the nature of ultramontane. and I think to do it justice, I need to let the photos call out to everyone’s (or perhaps simply my own) inner nature junkie.

    

    

not many people know this about me, but in high school I took as many ‘shop’ related classes I could – I took 5 years of auto shop (I have a small obsessions with motors, cars, and anything I can build with my hands and make move independent of me), I took shop class, and often took to our garage to build things with my dad. Still now, my dad and I make weekends out of working on the septic tank, building framing for decks, and other construction projects that we can get our hands on (my dad was a brick layer in a previous life – perhaps where I get my need to work with my hands from). In no. 3 they work on the building of the courses, and what goes into prepping a space to ride through. that.... to me... is amazing. and as someone who loves the feeling of building materials in her hands, i can put myself in that place in which you can use a space you've helped build. 

the shot at 1:15 in this video is pure. Perfection.

the one in which he fastens a hacksaw and a tripod to the front of his camera backpack. That could not be a more perfect symbol of the person who appreciates art and nature, along with a need to work with their hands, and understand the work that goes into these trails.

    

“The whole idea of him riding a hand built hard tail can be fairly well romanticised. The whole ‘feel of the bike’ thing connecting with the ‘feel of materials’ in your hands. That’s heavy stuff. Real talk.”

    

There’s something so epic about this video.

“Hearing trees come down in the distance however was one of the most surreal things I heard in a while, at first we all thought it was either a nearby shotgun going off, which would be incredibly odd for where we were, or to kick up the weird factor, somebody playing with homemade explosives. Through the night there were about five trees falling that woke me up, each fairly frightening to hear the shattering crack of the trunk followed by the earth shaking thump of the tree hitting the ground. Good thing we checked the weather forecast and noted everything except wind speeds before we set out.”

the video that began my love. the perfect summary of the whole series. the canada flag at 7 seconds. the ferry. the snow. the sun. the companionship. the music... oh the music. the sheer expansive space that they get to be part of. and then, the camping. oh the camping. there is literally much better than cooking over a fire.

6 releases. started in Jan. now they’re done. check out their entire season’s chronicle here. there’s way more than what I posted… and I promise – whether you’re a rider or not – you won’t be disappointed. and be sure to check them out everywhere they are (below):

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