Snow – SMALLCRAZY

Snowboxx Festival – Arinsal Resort / Retro Ski Day / Panoramix Party

Yishyene — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:12:00 +0000

*For more info, check out my first post on Snowboxx Festival

On the Saturday morning (the morning of our first full day), we loaded up on the hotel breakfast and hurried to the resort. We were overwhelmingly excited and couldn’t wait to get on the snow.As it was my first time snowboarding (I am a skier) and Reena hadn’t been in years, we booked daily lessons for five days. They were three hours per session and had a VERY KIND starting time of 12pm.

Arinsal Ski Resort, Andorra

The town of Arinsal is connected to Arinsal Ski Resort via two services – a gondola and a chairlift that connects to one of the hotels (I think it’s Hotel Crest).

The easiest one for us was the gondola, which was a mere 3-5 minute walk from our hotel – although the return trip isn’t that easy since it’s uphill and we’re either tired from snowboarding or drunk from partying..

^View from the bridge to the gondola

^View from our hotel

Our Snowboxx ticket included a 5-day lift pass., so we didn’t have to bother purchasing one separately.

^Gondola scenery

We had to collect our hire equipment first (one day I will have MY OWN) and because eeeeeveryone else from the festival had the same idea, we were stuck in a massive queue. We were late by about half an hour for our first lesson – like bad students.

Yep, the queue was so long that Reena planted herself on the tiles..

I compare the waiting experience to receiving a Christmas present early, but then having to WAIT till actual Christmas day to open it. However when the day finally comes, it’s freaking awesome!

^Our classmates and instructor on the baby/learning slope.

Our instructor was an Argentinian guy called Augusto. He was cool! He snowboards, skis, surfs, dives, and.. who knows what else. He alternates between being in Europe and South America / snowsports and beach sports. What a life!

He was really patient, and funny too.

On the first day we had to use this totally beginnerish ‘lift’ called the Magic Carpet. It’s like a walkalator with a very slight incline. It goes very slowly and gently, and takes you to the top of the learning slope, haha.

After a couple of rounds on the Magic Carpet, Augusto let us go up our first chairlift – a 4-person one.

One of the things I really love about skiing/snowboarding is the attire. Everything’s so bright and colourful. And for once, I don’t stand out like some crazy neon person. In fact, I felt rather.. DULL on the slopes during the days when I wore my boring ol’ white/pink ski jacket and GREY pants. How odd, as usually I’m one of the most colourful people in a crowd 🙂

^Reena, wearing my Billabong Boys’ size 12 jacket.. 🙂

Speaking of kids, we were rather impressed by all the tiny tots zipping around on their skis (snowboarding is not recommended for very young children).. they looked so cute and cool at the same time.

^OK This girl isn’t that young.. but I just didn’t manage to get a picture of the really SMALL ones.

There was even a girl of about five or six who was teaching her mom to ski. I overheard her giving her mom tips while helping lead her to the charlift queue 🙂

^View from one of the larger chairlifts, which we took on the second day.

Surf Restaurant/Bar/Club

I had to insert a section about Surf Restaurant because it was where I consumed the largest burger I’ve ever had in my life.

A 300g patty. IT WAS SO GOOD! Look, it’s nearly the size of Reena’s head.

My friends and I are obsessed with these ‘paradise’ glasses at the moment..

^Goliath, my pet mouse, joined in the fun too.

Surf is reputed for its steaks and apparently has the ‘best steak in Arinsal’, although some beg to differ. I didn’t try it in the end, so I can’t really say, but looking at the grill on the way out made me wish I DID try it.

Retro Ski Day

Sunday was Retro Ski Day (in association with DOS Clothing)!

As you can imagine, I was really excited. I could finally wear that 80s ski jacket that I found at Brick Lane a couple of months prior.

^Zorro in a matching bright pink North Face jacket.

Despite my very AWESOME jacket, I wasn’t nearly as retro as many of the other festival-goers on the slope. There were groups of people in matching retro-gear, animal costumes, cowboys,.. in fact all sorts of random crazy costumes. It was so much fun just to watch!

^These penguins were in Zorro’s skiing class. We bumped into each other at a cafe somewhere up on the mountain.

^With Joe, a classmate.
Joe’s wearing an amazing women’s yellow zebra-print ski onesie. Haha 🙂

^With my beloved Reena.

After a productive day of learning to turn/connect turns, everyone headed back to Arinsal town for nighttime festivities, i.e. food, music, drinks.

^We kept our jackets and switched to leggings.

Aren’t these hotel lobby pics simply glam?

^Fancy dress peeps.. and a suspicious-looking blow-up doll..

When I saw this lot pass by I couldn’t help myself from stopping them in the middle of the street for a photo.

This was unfortunately one of the LAST pics on my phone for the night.. which ended up being kind of a blur..

Monday – Main Event at Panoramix

So Reena and I missed our snowboarding lesson the next day…

I’d never felt so DEAD when waking up before. I’m lucky enough not to experience any headaches or hangovers (ever) but boy did I feel like I was dying that morning.

We did surprise ourselves by dragging our sorry bodies down to breakfast, but once we ate what little food we could manage, it was back to bed where we stayed for HOURS. Anyone who saw us would’ve thought we were a couple of corpses.

Nevertheless, we still got up eventually and managed a couple of hours practising on the slopes by ourselves (sans our instructor, Augusto).

Reena’s wearing my blue Billabong jacket (as in pic earlier) because she LOST hers the night before. But to her credit, she did find it in the end.

Monday was special because the gondola was going to be running special services through the evening and night to take people to/from the Snowboxx main event, which was being held at the outdoor Bar Panoramix stage at Arinsal Ski Resort. There was going to be a party on the slopes!

We stayed in our ski attire because we didn’t have enough time between dinner to get changed. This turned out to be good because it snowed non-stop that night.

The lineup from the night included Roses Gabor, Pedestrian, and The Other Tribe. The music was a mix of dubstep, electronic, garage, maybe some dance. Admittedly, I really am not a fan of dubstep.. but the combination of an amazing party location and a young, fun crowd made the night AWESOME.

^Zorro, me, Reena

It was pretty much blizzard-ing all through the night.

Imagine – dancing on a mountain with lights and music plus fast, angry snowflakes rushing at your face. It was crazy fun!

The finale had the team of snowboard/ski instructors coming down the slope with torches of fire. Our instructor, Augusto, was somewhere in there!

^Here is a compilation of some rubbish clips I managed to get that night.. You can spot me dancing like a moron at the start.

^This poor guy lost a bet with his friends and his punishment was to wear a PLASTIC BAG over his head during the whole party.

^Another poor dude who probably lost another bet and is paying the price by having to do push-ups on the snow. LOL!

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London Snow 2013 – Regent’s Park (Part 1)

Yishyene — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:43:00 +0000

SO! As most of you will know, London had its first snow of the season last Friday the 18th and it went through the whole weekend. If you follow me on Instagram (@smallcrazy), you’ll know that I can’t really erm.. behave myself.. when it snows. Hehe.I LOVE snow. Last winter, I loved it so much that I impulsively booked a train to the countryside just to wait for snow and play with it. I wrote about my weekend in Peaslake here.On Friday, I took some time in between working to have fun outside. I spent the Saturday at Hampstead Heath. On Sunday, I enjoyed the snow at Regent’s Park.

I was on the way to Baker Street to meet a friend for lunch, when a bazillion snowflakes started pouring out of the sky. I was SO impatient to finish lunch and RUN to the park.. and then when I got there, I realised.. that I had left the memory card for my camera at home. In a moment of snow-insanity, I darted off back to the main road to buy a new one.

Here are a selection of photos taken that afternoon:

Jumper & Faux Fur Coat – Vintage via GigiVintage

Skirt & Bag – Topshop

Shoes – Doc Martens

Beanie – H&M

Gloves – Urban Outfitters

I wore two pairs of woolly tights, and two layers of UNIQLO Heattech tops under my jumper.

I’ve been wearing the SAME THINGS every snowy winter it’s so boring.. zzz :p

It was such a challenge to use my camera that day. Everything kept getting wet and my lens kept fogging up. But I’m so glad I went to get that memory card because Regent’s Park was a picture of magic that day! Like something out of a fantasy world. The boating lake was partly frozen on the surface. The resident birds hung out on the ice, or otherwise slipped and slid around fighting for food whenever someone threw any towards them. I bet they wish they had ice skates!

I braved taking my coat off for a photo.. it wasn’t too bad. I think I was HOT from the excitement of snow that day.

The white parts of my jumper is angora wool and is super soft to touch. There are also some teeny pearls lining the design but.. I’m sure some have fallen off by now : /

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Snow Getaway in Peaslake

Yishyene — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:45:00 +0000

OK I’ve taken way too long organising/editing my pics for this post because I keep getting distracted by the music I’m listening to (I get up to sing and dance around my room), but ANYWAY here they are!As mentioned previously, I was superduper excited about the forecast of snow and really wanted to get out of town where there are much less people and a better landscape for snow!

On the Friday, I did some (lots of) research and booked a room at a B&B plus train tickets to… Peaslake. I hadn’t even HEARD of this place before. I then learnt that this tiny village had a population of less than 1500. It has one resident-run school, one shop, and no public transport. How perfect!

Situated between Guildford and Woking (south-west London), the nearest train station was Gomshall. Upon arriving at the station on Saturday afternoon, I also learnt that there were no cab companies there to take us to Peaslake and the buses only run once every 1-2 hours. Was still in high spirits though, and laughed so much while goofing around the ONE street that pretty much made up Gomshall.

It’s true that people in small towns are simply more friendly and helpful – we were in the local pub enquiring about cabs when a lady there got up and firmly said “I’ll drive you, it’ll only take me about five minutes”. Thank you Fionna from The Compassess Inn, it was much, much appreciated!

There is only one place to stay at Peaslake, which is The Hurtwood Inn Hotel.

I LOVED that hotel.. It’s so cute and cosy and warm and pretty! Got the best room (because all the cheaper ones were fully booked, haha) – front-facing and on the first floor.

View from the room – that is the ‘town centre’

The first day was so much fun in anticipation of the snow.

The temperature was low and the air was icy cold and crisp. Took a walk up to the forest nearby. The area is popular amongst cyclists/mountain bikers so we saw many of them there.

Found a pond and guess what! It was frozen SOLID. That got me so ridiculously excited that I jumped on and did some tap-dancing on it. I was getting more and more certain that snow was on its way.. it was only a matter of time, yessssssss.

Icy moss on a log

The tap-dancing stage

At sunset, we paid the local store a visit and bought banana cake, a chocolate slice, some cheese, and a bottle of wine to keep in the room.

Walking back into the hotel.. it began to snow. I was SO HAPPY and spent the next hour in the room observing the growing whiteness outside, willing and encouraging the snowfall with my mind.

Since there wasn’t a fridge provided, the bottle was left out on the window ledge to chill.

It was my first time sleeping in a proper four-poster bed!
It was SO, so comfy and soft

Dinner was had at the hotel restaurant downstairs, which was excellent.
Had salmon fishcakes, some shredded duck.. thing (crap, I forgot.. probably because this was the most tasty thing we ordered and all I could think of was to eat it), pasta, and a roast.

Our waiter was a Polish guy called Peter, who so kindly gave us a lift back to the station the next evening – Thank you so much Peter!!

As we were having dinner…… it really began to pelt down outside. Thick flakes were furiously falling to the ground. I watched smugly through the window like a proud evil villain whose plan to take over the world was materialising.

I ate quickly, because I was dying to go out and PLAY! I could already hear kids’ voices outside.. *impatient*

Using my fingers, I gifted almost every car parked outside with a erm.. sample of my.. art.
Meaning funny faces, vegetables, and body parts.

THE NEXT DAY

Look at the transformation!!!

I was so PLEASED.
Had a quick breakfast in the dining room – smoked salmon and scrambled eggs – and then it was time for a day out in the snowwwwwww

My coat is from GigiVintage
Beanie from ASOS, and Boots by Doc Martens

Goliath had fun too – and he didn’t even need a coat

Hmm I’d prefer UPside Cottage

My snowman’s name is Sean Connery / No snow day is complete without rolling a giant snowball!

This is the last photo of me before I slipped down the hill and fell onto the road on both my knees.
I landed so hard that I tore through my leggings AND tights underneath.
I have no regrets even though I ended up with giant swollen knees!

Snow makes everything pretty <3

So that was my snow weekend (a big WIN)

I definitely recommend Peaslake for a quick getaway from London if you want one. It’s only a 40+ min train ride from Waterloo and it has a big, beautiful forest and lots of open space.

Stay at The Hurtwood Inn Hotel (you don’t have much of a choice, but really it’s great!) from £59 per night.

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What keeps me warm in Snow Weather

Yishyene — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:22:00 +0000

..is this faux fur coat as per the previous post, also from GigiVintage
It’s undoubtedly the warmest one I have in my wardrobe – thick and heavy to keep the bitterness of cold air OUT

I feel like a soft toy when I’m wearing it
With only a wool jumper underneath, I’m set
I don’t need a scarf, because the collar is full and lush
I don’t need full gloves, because the pockets feel like.. wombs

The photos are a little grainy – I had to lighten it as it was dark when they were taken

Faux fur coat Gigivintage
Boots Doc Martens

As you can see, in winter there’s not much ‘fashion’ for me
It’s all thick jumpers, coats, boots, hat – it doesn’t get fancier than that

But really.. it’s WINTER. It’s COLD.

I can’t imagine those girls on Lookbook or Chictopia prancing about in lace dresses/barely there tights/off-shoulder THIN jumpers/platform heels when it’s 0 degrees outside
It actually looks a bit stupid >.<>

Sharing this pic cos I really like it!
🙂

:edit: I liked the pic so much I made a new page header out of it! It’s more umm.. festive!

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The First Snow

Yishyene — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:16:00 +0000

The first snow in London this winter happened at the start of December.
Now that it’s snowed so much again on the 18th, I thought I should hurry up and share some photos from that first snow day

There won’t be much of a story going on.. I have no energy to type

I’m sick for the first time in a year and my head feels like the Earth..
I THINK.. playing for 3 hours in the snow on Saturday may have contributed.. or perhaps it was running out to make a snowman in my pajamas yesterday morning >.<

This is what I do to people’s cars when it snows

hehehe

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