I’ve been sick the past two days with a combination of headaches, fevers, and chills. It hasn’t been pleasant at all. And anyone who knows me knows that I hate hate HATE being sick because it keeps me from doing all the things I love to do.

Well, I’ve spent an excessive amount of time couped up in the bedroom. And it drives me stir crazy. So in between lots of feverish sleep and staring at the walls trying to make the dizziness stop… I’ve been starting to put together the concepts for the design of the bedroom. I still have a long ways to go — there’s still the living room, patio, kitchen, bathrooms, and the sports room. But I digress…

So lying in bed, I was running images of peacefulness and calmness through my head. I wanted something that could be an inspiration for the colour palette and the “feel” of the room.

This photo immediately came to mind:

This is one of my favourite stops on the way to Tofino along the winding rivers and streams that cross over the road out there. I love the lush greenery of the forest, the whiteness of the bubbles as the water passes over the rocks swiftly, and the flow and motion to it.

It’s quite hard to incorporate all that into a bedroom. And as I starting working through the concepts, the bedroom turned into something quite different than the picture.

Our living room is quite masculine, so Allan allowed me to make the bedroom a little more soft.

I wanted lots of white, and lots of green. Soft breezy, almost tropical, but still close to home. Lots of textures. And I especially wanted some “distress” in the furniture with a hint of green… kind of how the water “greens” the rocks in the stream over time. I couldn’t find any furniture just like that, so it looks like we’re just going to distress and treat the furniture ourselves… which is better anyway.

Here are the design concepts I’ve been working through for the bedroom:

I’m pretty happy with the concept so far. What do you think? It sure is different than the photograph, but I do feel the colours, “coolness” and peacefulness are well-represented.

After three weeks of not snowboarding, I can only partially blame it on my canceled plans. What’s going on with the snow?

Here on the West Coast, we’ve had a tough snowboarding season so far. A late start to the snow, and even when it dumped a couple feet it still wasn’t enough to cover the rocks. Then came the cold front and more snow… but also more avalanches.

But for the past month, where has the snow been?

I feel like so much of my life these days is waiting for nature. Waiting for it to snow. Waiting for sun. Waiting for the right waves and tides and surf conditions.

Since I could run, most of my life has been spent playing basketball and field hockey throughout high school and university. Even activities like golf, waterpolo and ultimate frisbee that I enjoyed weren’t as reliant on nature as snowboarding or surfing.

These days in the absence of snow and the frigid waters and locked down budget, I’ve been turning to skating and learning to play hockey to fill the void. And I love it so far. And I’m going to keep doing it. But it’s just not the same.

There’s something about the wait that makes it so much better. Something about the wildness and randomness of nature that make snowboarding and surfing so exciting and different every time. I’ve found these sports so late in life but yet I feel like they’ve always been inside me and like I’ve been passionate about them forever.

And yet somehow I’ve become a huge nature snob! I should just get out there and snowboard and surf regardless of the conditions. Who cares if there’s no new snow! I could put on a bikini and go snowboarding like Tawcan and his friends did (skiing). Just enjoy the slush or the icy groomers. I could put on a wetsuit and brave the cold and still enjoy the crazy surf conditions right now.

Hm, somewhere along this post I’ve convinced myself to just get out there.

Instead of just waiting for Nature, I’ll go to Her!