Additional view of guest bathroom

The future master bathroom

The future guest room that we are temporarily staying in

Guest bathroom

The view from the top of the steep loft stairs (there is an additional, more traditional staircase on the other side of the house)

View from the loft

The loft, future office

Additional view of the loft

Another view of these fantastic stools

The loft stair case, one of the hardest areas to paint with cutout to bar area

Another view of the loft staircase with built in book cubes

Our living room, with high ceilings and beams

Our new bar, set up and ready to booze!

Our new home at night...so cozy

The breakfast bar, with fabulous deco stools thanks to Mom and Dad Lipani for the housewarming present

Our new kitchen

Tiggs LOVES the snow!

The Welcoming Committee

One of our new 3Form panels

Our new entryway, festive for Christmas

Bronson, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

After many, many tries over two seasons living here in SLC, yesterday I sent Bronson in LCC. This problem had only seen one other female ascent two years ago, and was ready for a long awaited female repeat. I sent it on my third day in a row climbing while my friend Cat from Montreal was visiting, and so it was extra special. She was filming the whole thing, and at the end, when I belly flopped and beached whale myself to the top, the camera is shaking up and down as she laughs hysterically at my ridiculous top out of the problem. I was so tired and so pumped, and my hands were numb from the cold. I have never tried so hard to stay on a boulder problem, and the whole time, part of me just wanted to let go...but the other part of me just held on, knowing that I would probably get hurt if I let go, and worse, if I didn't get hurt, I'd probably kill myself for giving up. I hope you enjoy this little funny film and you will be rewarded at the end with a good laugh!

The End of Summer- our vacation to Rochester and Rhode Island

Well, we just returned from an all out food, booze, and family fest in the Northeast. We had a great time with family, and we enjoyed our side trip to Rhode Island very much. We ate, drank, then ate and drank some more, then we checked out the bouldering in Lincoln Woods, Rhode Island. No pics there, but we did get some video of the climbing there which we may be able to upload at some point.

Enjoy some of these pics that highlight our trip. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great times!

Do I look like Tinkerbell here or what??? Why do I look so small? Here we are after another great meal on Federal Hill.

The Temple lounge in our hotel in Providence had really cool grafiti art everywhere.

The view of the Capitol from our room in Providence.

No, my boobs aren't that big. My mother was encouraging me to stuff food into my purse (and other places) in the Conceirge lounge so we wouldn't go hungry climbing the next morning!

We were able to go to my cousin Alicia's house for her daughter Gabrielle's party. Here are Alicia's other two canine kiddos- baby Lilly and big boy Rocky- sooo cute!

Gia helps Gabrielle with her birthday cake. We had sooo much fun celebrating with the girls.

Dad, Gabrielle, and Aunt Barb.

Gorgeous sunset, Newport, RI.

Our new yacht we picked up while in Newport.

Lot's of good fresh stuff out of the ocean.

Many imbibings.

The End of Summer- more pics of Rochester and Rhode Island

One of my childhood, and still wonderful, friends, the lovely Maura. Are we still 13 years old, or what???

Good times always require a Party Bus with the Lipani's. Here we are riding another drunk bus in Providence; on our way to Federal Hill (the Little Italy of Providence).

The view from the Marriot in Newport, Rhode Island.

Wolf's Head Video

Wind Rivers - Great Success!

"I just want to be off this thing" -Trent about 8 pitches into the East Ridge of Wolf's Head

I went to the Wind Rivers in WY this last weekend and had a hell of a good time. The trailhead is only 4 hours from my front door. I don't know why I've never been there before. It's like a remote Yosemite with routes for mere mortals everywhere. Trent and I took one day to hike into the Cirque of the Towers and then climbed the East Ridge of Wolf's Head (it's in the center of the photo). Super classic butt-puckering alpine ridge. Unlike anything I've ever climbed before because you're basically traversing on every pitch. That means you fell like you're on lead whether you're leading or following, usually with 1000 feet of air below. It's a grow-hair-on-your-chest kind of route. But it will also make that hair turn grey from sheer stress.

New Stuff...Ikea of course

Got some more new great stuff at IKEA, as always, it's perfect for small houses. Some cheap new wall mounted reading lights, which are awesome, since really our room is too small for nightstands. Also, a futon that has storage built in, is comfortable, and opens in one click...perfect! We are still hoping to tackle the kitchen at some point in the future.

Summer Blues

Well, it's hot here. 100 degrees to be exact. All motivation to climb routes, or boulder has ceased since my last post, and I have basically not climbed at all in about a month, maybe longer. I am still training Capoeira though, usually 2-3 times a week, and I'm getting better, though that is relative, since I still suck. I am getting alot of my acrobatic skills back from my younger days as a gymnast. This is without a doubt my favorite part about Capoeira. I can walk 30-40 feet on my hands forwards and backwards, do two-handed handstand hops, do regular static handstands, handstand pirouettes (even a little on one hand!), do standing backflips (Salto Mortals), aerials (au, or no handed cartwhell basically), Macacao's (means "monkey")-kind of like a cross between a back walkover and a back handspring, but you start sitting on your butt, and many other cool tricks to impress people at parties. Adam will start taking more pics of me flying through the air. I plan to also start training more acrobatics at Hunt's gymnastics with my group so I can push myself a little harder, since all of the aforementioned tricks are done without padding!

Today I also plan to start climbing again...I hope. I am trying to motivate to go into the gym and get psyched for fall. We just finished the OR show madness, and saw lots of great climbing friends and also hosted a couple of visiting climbers, Sean and Jason McColl from Vancouver. It was a lot of fun, and also a very busy time for everyone.