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.

Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We've just been working a ton and skiing a little bit, and climbing in the gym (BLAHHHH!) to stay in climbing shape. The dogs got rope toys and winter coats from Santa (they are such wimps about the cold, and constantly shiver, especially when camping and on road trips). Adam got TWO new pair of skis, Verdicts and Voodoos, and Melissa got under cabinet lighting from Ikea, along with a new kitchen light thanks to Grandma Holmes. We also enjoyed lots of good food and friendship with friends. We missed Adam's family for Christmas, since we had to reschedule our trip to the Northwest, but we did enjoy lots of good times at home. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Melissa returns to skiing in full form after 17 year hiatus!

Melissa tore up the slopes today at Alta and this ski area didn't know what hit it. Mike Musenbrok was overheard saying, "She's getting after it!" Despite blizzard snow and cold temps, Melissa skied until the chairs stopped running. She even went into a race tuck trying to speed down to the chair for that one last run. Expect to hear more from this new rising ski star. Vancouver 2010?

Flashdance...

He's a maniac, maniac on the flooooor...and he's dancin' like he's never danced befooooor...

Second 3Form Panel

Just finished installing the larger panel in our master bedroom. It's awesome- completely allows light while giving full privacy. This one is called Fossil Leaf. Check out these shots of it on the website: http://www.3-form.com/materials-varia-organics-fossil_leaf.php. There are real leaf skeletons in the panel.

We made a small molding to support it- hopefully it holds, because that panel is HEAVY!

Our Life in a nutshell (operative prefix being NUTS)

So, Adam and I thought it would be a great idea to buy a house when we werent' really planning it, and try to sell our other house at a time when the nation's real estate market is in major crises. We thrive on chaos, what can we say.

I haven't climbed pretty much since my last post titled Bronson, which amounts to about a month ago. I am totally OCD in many aspects of my life, and usually when I am climbing, that provides a focused outlet for that energy. Without it, I am forced to hand arrange cranberries on wreaths, paint an entire 1500 sq. foot new house, and scrub and rescrub floors, tubs, and toilets on my hands and knees....but that's allright, we don't need to psychoanalyze that right now.

Here are lots of photos of our new home, which is pretty rad. It was built in 1910, but an architecht who lived here remodled in the early 90's, and it's pretty creative and gave us a great space to live in. The house needed no work, except for a thorough paint job (we had to un-do some Miami Vice colors...my favorite was Grimace Purple- remember Grimace from McDonalds?). We've also added some panels from Salt Lake company 3Form, of which my good friend Wendy is an integral part. Check out http://www.3-form.com/ for some of the sweetest design you'll ever see.

Thanks to Tina, Tom, and Kevin who donated their time and elbow grease to help us paint the entire house!Thanks to Kimmy for food, beer, and friendship during hellacious 12 hour painting days and Wendy and Dave for their awesome ladder and for help with the panels!

Our New Home

Our new home...and our first big snow of the year.

My O.C.D. in effect...I rearranged the f**king cranberries by hand for over an hour and tied and retied that f**king bow at least 10 times...this is what happens when I'm not climbing-but it looks good, right??

Win's new perch with a great view of the street

The backyard with Adam and the dogs, having fun playing in the snow

Additional view of guest bathroom

The future master bathroom

The future guest room that we are temporarily staying in

Guest bathroom