Banffffff

I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival last night. It was held at the same venue as the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Fest that I put on in March, and walking in I had a few stress flashbacks to that night.

Katie and I settled into one of the comfy MontBleu booths, broke out the Mirror Pond Pale Ale and trail mix we'd snuck into the theater and got ready to watch some adventure films.

It turned out that I'd already seen two of the films that showed last night, Life Cycles (which everyone who loves bicycles should see) and Into Darkness which I "screened" (And by screened, I mean listened to with my eyes shut because I am claustrophobic and caving freaks me out.) for Wild & Scenic.

My favorite movie was a five minute short called The Longest Way, a "highly entertaining time-lapse of a one-year-walk from Beijing to Urumqi. Time and distance travelled are charmingly demonstrated by the growth of a beard in this five-minute short."

Honestly, I think this was my favorite because you could track the guy getting hotter as his beard grew in, then hit a critical point where his beard was too long, and he got less cute. I made a graph:

Other notes from the Film Fest:

• I have no interest in base jumping/wearing one of those flying squirrel outfits and jumping off of high things.
• I would waaaaaay rather go base jumping than go caving. And I really like interesting rocks.
• I don't think there were any women as main characters in any of the films. Boo, Banff.
• The guy who puts on Lake Tahoe Banff is named Squirrel

I'm back!

The 6th Annual Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival was a huge success!

The new venue was awesome, with great sound, a huge screen and a swanky atmosphere. We almost doubled the number of attendees from previous years, and we more than doubled the income from last year's raffle with the silent auction this year.

People seemed to really enjoy the films, and even at ticket sales, the most bottle-necked area, people were smiling and talking and having a good time.

I deem it a success!

Between the Film Fest on Friday, snowboarding two days this weekend, and daylight savings time, I was quite the zombie on Monday. Spending the entire day processing money from the Film Festival didn't exactly help.

I slept about ten hours last night, and I could have definitely kept sleeping this morning, but I am slowly returning to the land of the living.

I don't know why I made the decision to have a non-caffeinated beverage this morning, but that was dumb. So I am going to wander off to find some coffee before I fall asleep on this stack of thank you cards.

I might hurl

Slightly more than 24 hours until the 6th Annual Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival.

Ack!

Ack! Ack! Ack!

Everyone out there who has planned an event knows how I am feeling.

Hopefully, after tomorrow, life will slow down a little, and I can get back to my normal schedule, including working out and blogging. I did manage to fit in a 3.5 mile run yesterday, which I desperately needed.

Dan and another friend are coming up tomorrow, so when I finally escape work tonight (after a 6:30 pm meeting), I need to clean my dirty, neglected apartment and do 3 weeks worth of laundry. Maybe shave my legs.

But if you are in the area, come check out the Film Fest! I've worked really hard on it, and I am so excited about how it's turning out.

Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival

MontBleu Resort Casino Spa

Stateline, NV

7 - 10 pm, doors open at 6:30

Here are some scenes from the movies we're showing:

Scattered Fluries

Nico's Challenge

1% of the Story

Eastern Rises

Better Bones & Gardens

The Windmill Farmer

Oktapodi

Work, Spin, Work

According to the handy (scary) little countdown clock on the Film Fest event page, there is exactly 3 days, 23 hours, 52 minutes until go time.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

That's why today, I left spin class and went back to work. Well, technically, "back to work" because I'm working on a laptop on my kitchen table. But still. More work.

At least it's fun work. I'm making the playlist that will play before and after the films and during intermission. Unfortunately, my music taste tends toward 80's/rap/Lady Gaga, which I don't think goes all that well with the Wild & Scenic theme.

What music do you think works for an environmental film fest during the filtering in/intermission/filtering out portion?

If no one is in the office to see me nap on the floor, did it really happen?

I am beat today. Not only is it the regular tiredness of a Friday, but spin class was a killer last night.

Since Wednesday was a lazy beer and Buffy night, I decided to do a couple of miles of speed work before spin last night. Mistake? Maybe.

It was definitely the hardest spin class I've ever done. I think it was the combination of our instructor was working us extra hard + the speed work done before hand + the fact that I was still sore from my weight work out on Tuesday.

When I rode outside President's Day weekend, it was a lot harder than I was expecting. I've been really good about putting in the time, so I realized that I need to kick it into a higher gear (metaphorically and literally).

I need to up the resistance when I'm spinning. I need to not cruise at a comfortable pace when I'm running. I need to lift heavier weights. So I've started doing that. And it's hard, but the good kind of hard.

The other reason that I'm tired?

It's only one week until the 6th Annual Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival!

This is the first event that I'm putting on at my job, and those of you who've planned an event know how crazy and stressful it is right about now.

What's going to go wrong? Will the films work? Will anyone come? Will this be the worst Film Fest ever? Argh!

But I'm so excited! We get to be on the marquee!

Three things for Thursday

1. Dan was supposed to be on his way up here right now, but plans fell through, and he is not coming this weekend. He better get me the blender I asked for for VDay. But, on the bright side, I will be going to Santa Barbara next weekend! And my friend Katie is coming with me, so I don't have to drive by myself. Time to make some mix cds!

2. I finally decided what to name my car. Her name is Strawberry. Incidentally, strawberries are also the food I could eat the most of in one sitting. I ate two pounds in about an hour driving back from Mammoth last summer.

3. Tickets are now on sale for the 6th Annual Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival. You can go here to buy tickets, watch video clips, and learn more about the Film Fest. If you are in Tahoe, you can also buy tickets at the Alliance, MacDuff's, Patagonia, Gaia Licious, Tahoe Rock Shop, and Sierra Ski & Cycle Works. This is the first event I'm putting on for work, and I'm really excited about it! We have awesome films, a great venue, cool giveaways, and it supports a great cause. I hope if you are in the area you can make it! March 11th, MontBleu Casino, 7 - 10 pm. Kids welcome!

Since I was planning on having visitors this weekend, I also planned to do a long work out today just in case I had a little too much fun this weekend. I planned on going to spin, doing some lifting, and then going to yoga. However, after the elliptical and spin class, my knees were majorly complaining. Stupid stair climber. No more for me. So I decided to head home and ice instead. So now I am finishing off my toffee with frozen peas on my teas and tea in my hand. Lovely evening.

Does anyone else have Lincoln's Birthday off tomorrow? I do. Getting all of the holidays off is one of the benefits of nonprofits I have to say. I'm planning on sleeping in, addressing my floordrobe situation, making soup, and taking a long walk, enjoying the sun and the bare roads because SNOW is in the forecast.

Happy Birthday, Lincoln! Thanks for the day off!