Spring Zanyness

OK, ok, for my good friend Mike D, whom I miss very much by the way!

I wish I could say that I've been off jetsetting to Cabo, or Font, or surfing in Costa Rica, but alas, I haven't been doing any of those things. I have, however been working a lot of weekends and evenings doing special events, event planning, and working hard. I love my job. Working in animal welfare is an avocation, as well as a vocation. Sometimes it's hard to turn it off. There is always one desperate phone call or email to return, and when it's an innocent pup that's at stake, you just do it, doesn't matter the time or place.

The next month doesn't show signs of slowing. I'll be at Strut Your Mutt with some adoptables on May 22, then I'm planning my first ever large event, Pet Bull Palooza, which will vaccinate and microchip 100 dogs free of charge, as well as provide 60 free spay/neuter vouchers, free dog food, leashes, collars, and dog toys too. I hope it's a huge success, but I haven't slept in weeks. The weekend after that, I head to NYC to help with the first ever Tri State Super Adoption, then off to the Animal Farm Foundation for an internship working with what else? More shelter pit bulls! WooHoo. June will be a crazy month, but I'm excited.

I am also trying to train for climbing alot, mostly in the gym, it's all I can really fit in, plus, WTF, the weather is awful! So, Mike D, if you are reading this, come climb with me, even if it's only on plastic!

Lastly, I'm helping take care of my mom, who became gravely ill with bacterial meningitis while driving from NY to SLC this past week, so I've been at the ICU alot with her. She is doing really well, and her prognosis is very good at this point, so thanks for all of our friends and family who have sent emails and phone calls checking in.

So, that's the Spring Zanyness Report. What are all of your Spring Zany Plans?

Updates

Wow, I have been really busy, which means blogging is suffering. My trip to Kanab was productive yet brief. I enjoyed three wonderful nights with my Tina Louise(y) Wheezy, and met a ton of my new coworkers. The one thing I can say about working for Best Friends is that everyone is so passionate, and loves what they do, including me. Everyone works so hard, and it's evident in the creativity and programs that we have. It's very inspiring.

I wasn't in Kanab but two days, when I was called to help with a heartbreaking rescue project out of state. I'm still really not at liberty to discuss the details of this rescue. I can say that Arkansas, and Missouri (well, and a lot of places), have notoriously weak animal cruelty laws. I will enlighten my faithful readers more when the details of this rescue come out for the public. I learned alot, I was glad to go, I would go again, though the outcomes were disappointing. It strengthens our resolve to do more and get tougher laws to protect animals from abuse and neglect. We had a very good team and a wonderful volunteer network in place and seeing that come together was very inspiring.

In other news, Honey started her hydrotherapy. It was so cool, and she loved her hydro tech Wilma. We will go weekly and I think this will help Honey's recovery tremendously.

For my out of state readers, have you heard that Salt Lake City is the most polluted in the nation right now? We have all been breathing a brown soupy cloud for weeks now. Nothing was more evident that flying through the brown cloud on my way home last week. Inversion sucks! There will be a critical mass transit this week in the City to protest our terrible air quality. Uck.

Hope you are all well.

I'm Like David Hasslehoff

Not really, but this is a banner week for media. I must be big in Japan...or Germany, or somewhere!

Yesterday, my friend Chris pointed out that I am a centerfold in the new Urban Climber for an FFA I did in LCC about two years ago...oh well, better late than never, right? And, for those of you who have asked, Yes, it was scary. It's actually Ditch Witch low, or sit, or whatever it's called and was a fourth overall ascent, first female ascent. Back when I used to be strong, was motivated, and had balls. I remember the day well, I made Andy promise to stay on the ground and spot me with Justin, and he PROMISED he would and that he wouldn't take pics. When I topped out that boulder and looked over in the trees and saw Andy in a tree limb with his camera in hand, and only little ol' Justin on the ground, I was MAD. But, I was also so ecstatic, and I forgave Andy, as I was happy to have his amazing pics to remember it by.

Then today, again in design blog land, I have popped up again on Apartment Therapy, a republish of a shot that appeared about a year ago. This time, they have labled me as having an "Unstuffy Dining Room." Cool, I'll take it. I need to entertain soon in that Unstuffy Dining Room, because as of late I have been a total and complete shut in.

While we're on the topic of my status as a shut in, Honey is still struggling. I can't really write about it, because it's painful. She is still having problems on her leg that was re-operated on, and we go back in again on Thursday for another xray. At this point, I'm saying no more surgery...let's let this poor Honey heal and try again in a few months. And as if to tell me how over it she really is, she took a dump in my laundry room- a first, and hopefully a last.

That's the news for the day, and if you have any funny stories, I could use a laugh right about now.

Pic by Andy Burr

pic by yours truly

pic by yours truly

Honey's Surgery Day 1

Honey is a BRAVE girl! She got through her surgeries yesterday with flying colors. Now we begin the long healing process. Honey's ACL's and CCL's were gone, and her meniscuses were torn and calcified. Dr. Dale Smith put Honey back together again by performing a bilateral TPLO surgery. Doing both knees at once has advantages and disadvantages. Right now, Honey is trying to stand up and walk, naturally this is difficult since two of her four legs are stapled and screwed together.

We will just take her recovery one day at a time, and she is a brave little trooper. She loves her food, and we're making her special meals that are extra, extra yummy. We also will be icing her throughout the day to help reduce her swelling.

Thanks for the good wishes!

Five Years

 

 

Adam and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary on June 5th. Adam got me peonies, just like my bouquet. It's hard to believe five years have passed. We went to the Tin Angel and had a nice meal in an eclectic setting. Followed by a day of pumpy sports climbing actions in Maple Canyon with our old, dear friends from Fort Collins, Melissa and Jimmy, and Lisa and John. All of my peeps have kiddos now, and it was a total trip to see all of these cute little 3 year old mini-me's running around the crag. I forgot my damn camera at Maple, but fun was had by all.

New Bamboo and More PJ's

 

 

 

 

Adam has been killing himself making some new garden beds for his vegetable garden that he is so excited to plant. We also finally ripped out that dark grey, dated berber carpet in our bedroom, painted the walls white, and had some beautfiful woven bamboo installed by Underfoot Floors, they did a fantastic job, and we love the room. Also, a nice shot of Winn's face that I love. My girl is getting old, she is now over 13 years old!

It's Official

 

Honey was officially adopted today, and is a permanent part of our family. We couldn't be happier. On site to welcome her to the brood was her Grampa Lipani, Tiggs, Adam and I, and Amber Randall of No More Homeless Pets.

Utah Gymnastics

We initiated Dad into Utah Gymnastics Fan Mania for his visit. We brought him to the Utah/Florida meet Friday night, which Utah dispatched with ease (well, after a slightly scary bars rotation). It was super cool because it was senior night, with two of the most favorite, successful gymnasts at Utah, Nina Kim and Kristina Baskett, compteting for the last time at Utah. Over 15,000 people came, and Dad learned the cheers. Here's us doing one of the cheers. Also in the crowd to support Nina Kim was her best friend, Olympic All Around Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin.

 

Pics from the Salt Lake Tribune.

New Do Narcissism

Only a talented Aveda stylist could get my Sicilian 'fro straight! I am so impressed, that I had to take some pictures. Anyone who knows me knows that my hair is only ever in a ponytail and the only time it's ever down is when I get it cut and styled. I wish I could afford to get thermal straightening. But for the next few hours until the frizz takes hold, I will wear it down.

And of course, the obligatory Honey and Tiggs cuddling shot.

Trying to Organize the Blog!

Hi everyone!

Today I started trying to organize 4 YEARS of blog content. And because my interests and my readers are all over the map, figuratively and literally, I'm experimenting with labels. So far, I have done all blog entries for 2008 and 2009, but haven't gotten past that. When I do, if you are interested only in updates on a particular subject, like say climbing, dogs, or my house, you'll be able to go straight to those posts and skip the extraneous stuff that you could care less about. You can see what I've done so far, but when I get back into 2004 and 2005, it will be quite a task, since that is the year we lived on the road and climbed full time (ahhhh, those were the days). So, this coming week, stay tuned, I will try to continue this mega proj!

Melissa

I got nuthin'

No news is good news, right?  Not one exciting thing going on right now.   But, if I had to come up with something:

*Was paid for my first professional interior design gig helping a very nice woman pick out paint colors for a beautiful new Craftsman home

*Finally ate at the Wild Grape Bistro and paid a very large tab...ouch, but the food was excellent- perhaps we'll go just for brunch next time?  

*Climbing A LOT in the gym, damn will it ever stop snowing here?  Nope, probably not until late May.  Yipeeee.

*Working too much- damn whiney skiers and their nasty feet.  EWWWWWW.

*Counting the days until our next trip to Best Friends January 1-4

*Collecting tennis balls from local tennis clubs to bring on the BF trip, along with a lot of donated gear from a few kind souls at Black Diamond to help with the BF Rapid Response rescue team- think Search and Rescue for animals

*Giving huge thanks to the universe that Tiggs is doing AWESOME!

David Sedaris

Is freaking hilarious. I bought Adam tickets to his show back in June for our Anniversary, and we finally went last night. His dry wit and wickedly funny storytelling were just what the doctor ordered for me this week. I think I peed my pants a few times, and I love that he jokes that people pay to see a 'gay middle aged man read aloud.'

I am used to hearing his essays read by him on This American Life and also a few books on tape, but I'm going to for sure check out some of his books. He also spoke highly of a funny collection of essays called Braindead Megaphone...anyone read it yet? They have it at the SLC library, we're going to check it out.

If you ever have the chance to catch him on tour, go see him! His bit about 'undecided voters' was priceless. He said being an undecided voter is like being on an airplane, and having trouble deciding between the chicken, and the plate of human shit (with broken glass in it). The obvious punchline being that in the end, it all gets chewed up and spit out and ends up in the same place...except for the glass, which was clearly a reference to the McCain/Palin campaign. Funny stuff, and my narrative really does it no justice.

You can read the story here, as published in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/10/27/081027sh_shouts_sedaris

Go see him!

Staycation 2008- Gumby Edition

Or Labor Day edition, or whatever edition you want to call it.

Holmes and I have 5 days off. Here is what we've done/will do:

*Had a terrible, overpriced Italian meal at Cannella's- NOT authentic, and NOT recommended...can you say garlic powder and too much salt? Ewwwwww....

*Went to see Batman on IMAX...MUST see on IMAX, no question- I pretty much had motion sickness the screen was so big. And, I sat right next to four good Mormon boys

*Went climbing at American Fork with Adam and Kev- first time climbing outside since April- yayyyyy. Climbing in gym too.

*Had a fun little bbq and fire pit party

*Painted/still painting hallway

*the rest is TBA because Staycation 2008- Gumby edition is still underway!!

A Slow Return to Normalcy

Well, the last week has been starting to feel a little bit more like a normal life. I've started climbing again, albeit very slowly and only in the gym, Tiggs is acting more like a dog, and we even squeaked in a quick trip to Ikea for a little retail therapy.

We decided to rip out the nasty carpet in our loft, made a little nastier by the side effects of Prednisone, and lay some inexpensive laminate. Adam and I were kinda psyched on trying a white wood anyways, and Ikea makes a white-washed wood laminate for about a buck a square foot. We even found a couple of boxes of the flooring in the As Is room at Ikea, and voile, a little elbow grease (ok, maybe a lot of elbow grease, and a few near-marriage ending squabbles) and a hundred bucks and POOF, we have a cool new floor.

Hope you like the pics.

On the Tiggs front, blood work has been great, PCV near 40 and starting to cut the Pred a little bit. Still experiencing a few unpleasant side effects, but Tiggs is handling it all like a champ, and even rolled in the grass last night- I will never take seemingly insignificant dog behavior for granted again. We love him so much! And we love his wonderful big sister Winn, who has been kind and gentle towards him.

What's Up?

Just finished the buying frenzy for BD at the Outdoor Retailer trade show, what a scene! Really, how many pair of capri pants can one look at before going postal? Not really any crazy cool new products to report, other than the Mammut Smart belay device, which will be sick, and really pretty cheap at a retail price of 29 bucks. Also, I like the new BD Orbit lamp, which is a cute little lantern that fits in your pocket. Lastly, the new Five Ten Women's Daescent and Guide Tennie will be the approach shoes of choice this fall.

Other than the crazy amount of work, Tiggs is doing so well! His PCV today was between 37 and 38. We are getting lots more tail wags and taking 20 minute walks daily to get his stamina up. His weight is coming back, but his head is a bit skeletal looking from the way that the Pred causes muscle wasting.

I went to the gym last week for an easy climbing session, and felt like sheee-ottt. Now, gotta get back in there so I don't feel so bad this fall when LCC starts getting good. I did still feel the tendon, mostly in the palm of my hand. So, still a long, long road on the mend for that one. But, I think I can do some easy stuff for now just so I am moving.

No exciting house pj's currently, as all monetary funds have gone towards massive vet bills. My wood floor savings has been deposited into the Bank of Tiggs. I really wouldn't have it any other way, but I was looking forward to ripping out our carpet. Maybe next Spring...

Oh and Wendy and Dave had a baby boy Luke, and Andy and Laurel had a baby girl, Kaia. Congrats to all my friends!

Fort Fun

They don't call it that for nothing! Ft. Collins was just what the doctor ordered, literally! Our wonderful friends Jay and Traci finally tied the knot, and dammit, my batteries were dead for their incredible wedding and reception. Trac and Jay have been great friends and climbing partners over the years, I'm so happy we could share their day.

Coming back to Ft. Collins was so good for us, it was a wonderful homecoming, and it seemed like at every turn, we ran into a familiar and friendly face, from the minute we pulled into town, until we left. Many people came back into town and my friend Rick said it best: it was a reunion of people from the heyday of the Ft. Collins climbing scene.

Many of you have asked about Tiggs, and all I can say is that he had an amazing turn around while we were there. We were lucky enough to consult with CSU vet teaching hospital, and they spent 3 hours with us. They were great about consulting Tiggs' vet here, and they agreed that his treatment is on the right track. Not only that, but his blood work was great while we were there, and his energy seemed to triple! Also, we were able to reduce his meds slightly, which will help us manage some of the less desireable side effects he is experiencing (can you say diaper pull-ups???).

Thanks for all of the well wishes with Tiggs; he keeps reminding us to take it one day at a time. His liver is enlarged from the meds that he takes, and he is at risk of developing a clot, but overall, if we stay on the right track, we are hopefully close to a balance of drugs that will help Tiggs stay healthy without too many problems.

My Blogging skills really blow...

Well my friend Shannon prodded me nearly two weeks ago, and I guess I hadn't really even noticed it's been about 5 weeks since my last post.

Hmmm. Ok, cool things that have happened:

1. Went to Portland to see the Holmes family...saw cutest niece Jennelle and nephews Reece and Trevor...absolutely in love with them, they ROCK

2. Lipani parentals visited. They are fun to have around, lot's of eating and drinking, and they might retire in Mesquite; read all of you climbing buddies: warm bed, awesome food, and showers when in the St. George area!!!!!

3. My good friend Kim 'hired' me to design her new bedroom. I LOVE interior design, so this was my dream 'job'. Kim is easy, and had a decent budget. We did lighting, bedding, furniture, paint, accessories, the whole shibidang...it looks SWEEEEEET. And, if she ever gives me pics, I can post 'before's and after's'.

4. One of my favorite Utah Ute's Daria Bijak made the German Olympic Gymnastics team....friggin' sweeeeet times a bajillion. Stay tuned in August for the Beijing Games.

5. I ordered and am anxiously awaiting for this lamp: http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=120&f=2976&viewall=1 I LOVE LAMP!!!!!

6. Lastly, and this is definitely lame and NOT cool, I'm still injured...WTF???!!!! Hoping to be climbing by July 1st...send healing thoughts and voodoo magic my way, please and thank you.

Now for some cheesy pics.

Invasion of the Snails

I really don't even know what to say about this. In my life I've had a wasp hive break through into my kitchen, mice, box elder invasions, but this one was new to me. When I got home from work, there were thousands of snails that came out of the ground and were all over my yard and plants after a good rainstorm. This is the bucket that we collected them in. There were even babies everywhere! EWWWWWWWW! Anyone have a good snail remedy?

Birthday

Adam's birthday was a total blast. We had a bunch of friends meet over here for beers and margs with a nice little appy spread. When everyone was good and sufficiently drunk, a large group of us walked down to the recently re-opend Este Pizza: http://www.estepizzacompany.com/.

We ordered four different pizzas and a few pitchers. My favorite is the Italian Flag. It has pesto on one side, ricotta with roasted garlic in the middle, and traditional marinara and mozz on the end. Great NY style, fold-the-gigantic-slices pizza. They even have vegan offerings.

Then we walked back over here for more patio fun and games...anyone ever play drunken tug-o-war while standing on a wobbly bucket? And, spectacular carrot cake, yummy!

Fun for all! Check out the pics. More will be posted as available.

Adam's Birthday Recap

Adam's favorite present, yet another pair of BD skis...
A good spread before we hit the road to Este Pizza
Wouldn't I make a fabulous mom? Here's me getting my bosses baby drunk!
I made my grandma Cerniglio's carot cake recipe. It was delish!