I LOVE LAMP

My beautiful lamp has arrived. As cool and lampy as I'd hoped. As Lubowski says: "it really ties the room together." Think I'll go pour a White Russian now....

Pole Fitness

Last night, I did something I had been dying to try for ages! I went to a Pole Fitness class at Studio Soiree, right in my neighborhood. Check it out: http://www.studiosoiree.com/about.html

My good friend Rachel knew I had been dying to try it, and she got us a deal on an intro class through a girl who recently started climbing at the Front.

Rachel and I not only had a fabulous time, but it was one of THE BEST workouts I have had in a long time. Think of it like vertical yoga or pilates, and extremely complimentary for climbing. The poles were TALL too (about 15 feet I'd say), these women were strong, sexy, and fearless, and there was absolutely nothing scandalous about it. The teacher, Niki, was totally ripped and she had some killer moves.

There was even a guy in the class! I would recommend this type of class for all of the climbers I know, and go with an open mind and you will get worked!

A couple of tips:

1. Do NOT apply lotion prior to class or you will slide down the pole and likely hit your head or ass on the floor
2. DO apply some sort of self tanner to your milky white thighs at least a few days before class
3. DO expect the skin between your legs and behind your knees to get raw
4. DO expect to have fun and get really sore

I am coveting:

Any millionaires out there want to donate to my cause?

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.

Sweet ass fire pit
Hilarious pic

Awesome 5.10 tee shirt.


Ikea furniture assembly...Note to self: Dad does NOT read directions or diagrams.

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!

Food Rulz

Many of my dedicated readers (all 2 of them) and friends and family know I like to eat. I just love sweets especially, but I really like to eat just about anything. I just saw a new bakery has opened near where I work at Black Diamond. I can't wait to check it out. It's called So Cupcake, and they have a heartwarming story.

Check it out:

http://www.socupcake.com/cupcakes.php

While we are on the topic, other SLC hotspots for treats include:

Hatch Family Chocolates- the BEST chocolate..try the dipped pretzel, my favorite-http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635201855,00.html

Les Madeleines- you have to try their Quoing Aman (I know I butchered the spelling)-http://www.les-madeleines.com/

Crumb Brothers- the most delicious seeded baguettes EVER-http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/1814/crumb-brothers-bakery

Pierre's Country French- the BEST almond croissants- huge and buttery with tons of almonds
http://www.pierrecountrybakery.com/

Injured Reserve

I'm sad to say that I may have royally F**KED myself today in a pre-work bouldering session. Remember that post where I said climbing was all about fun?! Why didn't I listen to myself. Within 24 hours of writing that post, which I sincerely meant, I fell in love with a difficult project. After spending 2 days on it, I felt ready to send. Only problem, was that my work schedule sucked for the time, so I decided to get up early, rush through my warm up, and try to send before work.

One tenuous heel hook and tweaky undercling later, I feel as though I have probably partially tore my left ring finger tendon down into my forearm.

I can't tell how serious it is, but right now it hurts to close my hand and type this entry, so it can't be good. Bad timing, as I really wanted to finish the proj, and we are heading to Ft. Collins to climb this weekend. Hopefully the damage isn't as bad as I fear, and I can get back to action soon. As for now, I will be resting and trying to stay psyched!

In Mourning

Well, it is both with great pride, and great anguish that I have to report my beloved Utes took 2nd place in the NCAA championships. They had a phenominal season, and under the most difficult of circumstances competing at a raucous enemy arena (Georgia), they took the runner up spot for the third year in row. Georgia once again dominated, this time on their own home turf.

In addition to that, Ashley Postell, the most successful, decorated college gymnast in NCAA history, couldn't pull off the All Around competition that she was favored to win, taking second to former olympian and UCLA standout Tascha Schwikert.

The Utes and Ashley are still #1 in my book, and they deserve all of the credit for having an inspiring and successful season, being the only team in NCAA history to not count one fall all season, and going 17-1 during the regular season.

GO UTES!

Fun with the gals (and our special male guest star!)

Well, I wanted to post some really cute pics of Jaima and Rachel, but these are the only ones that Jaima emailed me, so you will have to link to Jaima's blog to see the rest. Here a couple really fun problems in LCC. The first one is a great "easy" slab, it always gives you a little flutter at the top because it feels kind of high and scary (it really isn't, it just feels like it when you are standing on a crystal the size of a pin head!).
This is a pic of a super fun, technical problem called Seams Easy. Jaima has a pic on her blog that shows her pressing it out, and that is the essence of the problem- pressing in a dihedral while you are basically horizontal, very yoga-like! Check it out. It has really meant a lot to me lately to have fun women to climb with around here. On this day, Rachel, Jaima, Cerre and I (with Kevin as our special male guest star) worked on this problem. It has been awesome to train in the gym with Rach, climb routes at Echo with Jaima, and also my friend Tarris, and then have a chance to get out with them for a couple of hours in LCC. I'm looking forward to climbing more this summer with all of these gals!

a personal post regarding climbing

lately i've been thinking alot about climbing. this really isn't a surprise to most, but it's not what you might think.

it's not uncommon for my (and others) motivations to wane when it comes to climbing. there is definitely frenzy lately surrounding women's bouldering, with several strong and capable women sending inspiring problems all across the globe.

recently i got an email from an old friend, who posed the question to me why wasn't i one of the ones climbing v12.

the last year for me hasn't been completely void of good climbing, and i've done at least a couple of problems that i can say i'm proud of, however, overall, sometimes i just feel like going out and having fun. lately i like mixing it up with a few routes here and there, or just getting out to enjoy the day with friends and dogs.

it's not that i don't want to climb hard, or am no longer trying, but i just don't always feel the need to try the hardest problems all of the time. certainly there was a time when these were my motivations, and there is nothing wrong with that thinking- it certainly moves the sport forward. But, the downside is that it 'feeds the ego' as my friend Justin says, and wear down on the pure joys of what i love about climbing.

at times the pressures of maintaining ones 'position' in the climbing community or keeping sponsors happy can chip away at the simple pleasures found in a day wandering through the boulders. others' expectations, and your own at times, for what you "should" be able to do eventually can lead to frustration and depression if you don't always 'perform.' these expectations also come from within, and can be paralyzing at times.

i write this post mainly for myself, to verbalize some of my thoughts about this lifestyle that i love so much, but also to remind other climbers (if any read this blog anymore) to just go out and enjoy yourself sometimes.

House pics

Projects on a shoestring!

I really like doing projects. Even now that I live in a house that really doesn't require projects, I still think it's fun to reinvent your spaces to make them more enjoyable and livable. Today we put a new track light in the laundry room to brighten it up. We also put a white laminate table top over the washer and dryer to create more useable space. It had a side benefit of lightening up the room, defintely in conjunction with the new light.

Total cost for this pj:

$25 for track light (IKEA)
$15 for white laminate counter top (as-is room at IKEA).

Add it up, and you have a cool laundry update for 40 bucks...

While we're on the bargain subject, I LOVE Craigslist. I sell everything on there you can imagine, and I'm always on the hunt for a good find. Last week I sold some nice maple blinds that we removed while painting, and no longer had a use for. I sold 6 of them for $50- hopefully they were psyched on their bargain...

That same day, I hit the jackpot and fount a gorgeous balau wood and stainless patio table for $50! Actually, it was $65, but the guy accepted my offer of 50...So, the revolving door of Craigslist keeps spinning, and I am so happy with my transactions.

Enjoy the pics of my happy home makeovers.

Upcoming movies

My dad just visited last weekend, and it went like this: Eat, drink, nap, repeat...We took a lot of video footage so we can make a tutorial on making homeade spaghetti and meat sauce, we just have to figure out how to edit it.

As for climbing, finally things are looking good weather wise- hit up Echo Canyon yesterday to climb routes with my friend Tarris. We froze, and my cold got really bad today. This weekend looks good for Joe's, and I am excited to climb in a tank top. I've trained really hard in the gym this winter, and I'd really like it to payoff outside now that the Spring is here.

Hopefully we'll have cool pics/vid to post soon!

Allright

The lack of blogging going on in this blog is ridiculous...and I am not a woman who is made to look RIDICULOUS...ok, bad Godfather reference there.

Anyways, geez, where the hell have Adam and Melissa been?! Well, in general, starting to regain life as we know it, now that our old house has sold and we have settled into the new one.

A big highlight was a quick trip to San Diego that I (Melissa) took to see my mom. Can't beat free gorgeous Marriott hotel rooms thanks to my dad's hotel points! Scroll down to see some picture highlights.

In a nutshell: Adam skiied a ton this year, Melissa pulled a ton of plastic (ie, gym climbed for all of you uninitiated)....

Recently, the snow has started to thaw....THANKS BE TO JESUS! And I've climbed in Joe's, Ibex, and most recently the ST. George area, marking my return (officially) to route climbing. We'll see how long it lasts.

A big part of our winter has been the Utah Women's Gymnastics 2008 season, as we are season pass holders. Our beloved Utes, are 11-1 this year, and are ranked 2nd in the country, although they have already defeated the #1 team, Georgia. Check them out at: http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/w-gym/utah-w-gym-body.html

The Utes have a great shot at being the National Champs, so stay tuned to these amazing athletes, many of whom were International stars and Olympians prior to their Collegiate careers, and a couple of whom you may see in Beijing this summer!

Anyhoo, no complaints, things are greening up, and we're psyched for Spring climbing season. Expect to hear more from us as we get back into the swing of life as we normally (or abnormally) know it- obsessed with CLIMBING!

San Diego Trip 2/08

We visited with Uncle Joe and his lovely wife Joan, whom I adore! They live in a nice little home in Oceanside. Uncle Joe and Joan were wonderful hosts, and they drove us up the coast so we could shop, put our toes in the ocean, and eat. We spent a night with them and had an amazing dinner (my favorite family meal- homeade meat SAUCE!!!).
We also visited Balboa Park while we were on a long trolley tour, which was huge and amazing, here is a shot in one of the botanical gardens.
The view from our hotel room.
We drove to Yorba Linda to visit one of my mom's best friends, "Coolie" aka Louise and her husband John. We watched the Oscars, ate great food, drank wine, and laughed. It's fun to to watch two old friends together. I had to spend the night in the "Coolie-Mobile"-see above PT Cruiser- because I almost died. That's right, I almost died. My mom neglected to tell me that Coolie has two Ragamuffin cats, to which I'm deathly allergic. I went into full blown asthma and nearly had to go the ER. But it all worked out, because I was able to milk it for alot of "I-almost-died presents."

These cute little shits almost killed me!!!
Mom and Coolie...they had a lot of rules about how their pictures could be taken. Such divas!

Our Day at the San Diego Zoo

Sausage Fest Part II: Bro-Edition '08

That's right folks, back by popular demand, it's time for Sausage Fest '08. This year is the "bro edition" with Scotty and Drew coming out for 5 days of fun to SLC. We plan on skiing, drinking some bootlegged beer, and general chillaxin'. It's kind of like a Canadian backcountry hut trip but we're in the city and there's no helicopters. Stay tuned for daily updates on this internet channel!

Sourdough

I started a sourdough culture from scratch a couple of weeks ago. I grew up eating sourdough bread made by my mom and I love the acidic taste. The starter my mom has is supposedly 50-100 years old. My starter is only 14 days old but it did pretty well. I made some no-knead bread today using starter for 20-30% of the dough and it turned out great. Hopefully Winnie (our dog) won't get these loaves off the counter.

No Knead Bread

I've been making bread more lately. These two loaves were made using the no-knead recipe that's been popularized by Mark Bittman at the NY Times. Drew sent me a tip about the America's Test Kitchen (ATK) version of this bread. I made both breads. The ATK version uses less liquid (66% liquid) than the NY Times version (86% liquid). The ATK version also uses a little beer and vinegar in their recipe to mimic some sourdough characteristics. As expected, the dough with more liquid had a more open crumb which I like. I could taste the beer/vinegar combo in the ATK loaf, but I don't think it made that much of a difference. Both loaves are good but I like the simplicity of the Bittman version. Easy to make in the middle of a busy work week.