Julia's blog

Happy New Year! And ... Goodbye

2010-01-05T01:45:00.005-06:00

I just got back from a lovely vacation in San Diego ... and I realized I don't really feel like blogging about it. Facebook seems to have everything I need lately for sharing pictures and a bit about what I'm up to and my interest in posting here has been dwindling.

So I think I'm done with this blog! I'll leave it up in case anyone thinks my life is interesting enough to search through the archives, but this may be my last post. If I feel like blogging again, I may be back. Otherwise, I'll see you on facebook!

Cheers!!

I'm engaged!

2009-12-13T20:31:00.007-06:00

Hi all. It's official -- Jeremy and I are engaged. It's something we've been thinking about for a while, and we officially decided together last week. I think we've gotten the word out to most of our friends and family, so I'm posting about it.

We're still so so so early on the planning stages, but right now, we're very tentatively thinking about a wedding in San Diego in December of 2010 with LOTS of DANCING!! And then a honeymoon in Argentina. Probably something like this. I might post more as we talk about it and make some decisions. Right now, I'm just supper happy to be getting married to someone so wonderful!

Cheers!

It's been a while

2009-12-06T20:09:00.005-06:00

So ... I haven't been doing any climbing (other than the gym) since my last posting. So I really haven't had much to blog about. I'm just dropping in to say I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

So, just a brief update about what I've been up to lately. Work is taking up a lot of time, but no one wants to hear about that. In the free time I have, I've been doing lots of cooking and lots of dancing. And of course, I don't have any pictures of that, but I've found some really cool youtube videos of other people dancing for inspiration. Most of my dancing time lately has been tango. I've decided this is my favorite and while I will continue learning and dancing blues, I think I want to dedicate most of my lesson time/money to tango so I can do this someday:

But blues will always have a place in my heart. Because, serious, who doesn't think this is awesome:

I may not be able to do that, but Jeremy and I had a great time at Emerald City Blues festival and will surely go next year. And we're really looking to San Diego Fusion Exchange this January!!

As for the cooking, it's been so cold outside, I've mostly been making soup!!

On the menu lately has been:

1) Split Pea soup & corn bread paired with some Cab Sav

2) Homemade tomato soup (I found the most delicious recipe and modified it a bit -- seriously delicious) with some gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches paired with some really great Pinot Noir (Cab Sav might have been a better choice, but we really lime Pinot)

3) Home made chili served with a green salad and corn bread paired with Zinfandel.

I also did some baking for Thanksgiving -- I made 2 pumpkin and 2 apple pies. We kept one of the apples for ourselves and took the other 3 to Jeremy's mom's place for Thanksgiving. And then the next day, we finished off the rest of a left-over pumpkin and I decided to make some frozen pies (use ice cream instead of condensed milk and serve frozen) for just us.

My waistline may not be moving in the direction I'd like, but we've been enjoying some tasty warming winter food since it's too cold (for me) to climb.

We're really looking to going to San Diego for a couple weeks to visit my family, do some climbing in Joshua Tree, and perhaps some dancing down there too. And I'm thinking I'll pitch in and make Christmas dinner. I'll make use of my parents grill (since we don't have one) to make some Cedar Planked salmon (and whatever sides I come up with). :)

Let me know if you want any recipes. And stay tuned for climbing pictures from Joshua Tree! :)

Skaha

2009-10-13T13:21:00.003-05:00

Adrianne and I headed up to Skaha to join Sara and Rebecca in celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving ... climbers style. We headed up mid-day Friday and got to the campsite around 10. It was freezing (literally!!) so after finding Rebecca and Sara and setting up camp, I quickly dove into my -5 degree bag and STILL fell asleep shivering (though I did manage to warm up at some point in the night). We woke up and took our time making breakfast and coffee. Everyone was all bundled up in multiple layers of down and fleece all morning and we didn't get to the wall until around noon ... just in time for the sun to have moved to the other side of the crag.

So -- in the future, when climbing at Skaha when it's cold (lows well below freezing and highs not far above freezing), it's important to know where the sun is. The crag is situated such that almost every crag is in the sun for only 1/2 of the day and we didn't plan well on the first day, so we didn't get much climbing in.

Sunday went a little better. I was even sportting a tank top for a few minutes and climbin in the sun actually felt good. But as soon as the sun moved to the other side of the rock, we packed up and by the time we got to the sunny side again, all the routes we wanted had too much traffic, so we called it a day.

Adrianne and I had to get back for Girls Rock Monday afternoon so we couldn't stay and climb Monday morning. I'll have to look in someone else's book to remember the areas and routes we climbed. We only averaged 3 routes a day, but it was a good trip nonethe less and I look forward to future trips! No pictures, we were all too cold to take out our cameras!!

I was hoping to get down to Smith at least once this fall ... but the weather isn't cooperating this weekend. Here's to hoping for at least one sunny weekend for some Smith climbing!!

Squamish -- Last trip of the Year

2009-09-28T19:12:00.003-05:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks ... but I did mention to squeeze in some fun. I've done some climbing (a hot and not all that productive, but fun day at Mt. Erie), did some dancing (west coast swing weekend workshop).

Last weekend Adrianne and I headed up to Squamish. The weather looked (and was!) fantastic, and we had a great time!! I managed to get in a couple hard leads (The Zip - 10a, and Flying Circus - 10a). Not a first time for either, but still an undertaking for me and I was really happy with myself. We also went up to Star-Chek on Sunday and climbed a 4 pitch 5.8 sport route. The climbing wasn't all that exceptional, but it was in a really cool setting and we had a great time. We'd planned on having me leading pitches 1 & 3, and Adrianne taking 2 & 4, but I was feeling kind of freaked getting to the second bolt, so I came down and Adrianne took the first pitch. I had pulled myself together by the top of the first pitch, so I took pitches 2 & 4. It was pretty easy climbing, but a bit more run out than I would have liked. Still, lots of fun and I'm really glad we did it. I think Adrianne might have some pictures that I'll share as soon as I get them from her.

And now it's desert climbing season ... stay tuned for trips to Skaha and Smith! :)

From Tango Magic

2009-09-11T00:39:00.002-05:00

Remember back in July when I blogged about the Tango Magic and the performance by Patricia and Matteo that was so beautiful that it literally brought tears to my eyes? Well, it's finally up on the internet for me to share with you. It doesn't have quite the impact on video as it did live, but it's still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I don't think I'll ever dance like that, but I do hope to continue to improve. It is beyond inspiring!

City of Rocks

2009-09-09T16:17:00.013-05:00

I just got back from 3 1/2 days of climbing at City of Rocks. I was hoping for a longer trip, but that was all I could connivence my friends to do. Which probably turned out for the best since I am apparently allergic to the whole City!! I couldn't breath well the whole trip and couldn't sleep well due to being so congested (despite loading up on lots of allergy medication). But it was a great trip nonetheless.

Christine, Vlad, Craig and I met up around 3:30 to start the long drive. We arrived at the campground around 4 am and were too tired to pitch tents so we laid our sleeping bags out on the tarp and went straight to sleep. We were rudely awakened at 8 in the morning by rain, so we hastily set up the tents and crawled in for more sleep. After that it was 3 1/2 days of climbing, steak, and fun! I didn't take many pictures with my camera since it was much more fun to play with Vlad's or Craig's awesome cameras. I'll try to share some pictures from their cameras once they get them up.

I didn't do much leading on this trip -- allergies combined with the fact that I think my head is still pretty messed up from my big fall 2 years ago. But I did get on some great climbs and had a great time!

Vlad and Craig have their pictures up on facebook. Here's a great shot Vlad got of me leading Skyline. You'll have to friend me on facebook if you want to see the rest.

Here's a list of routes we did:

Saturday:

Morning Glory Spire

Skyline - 5.8 trad - Vlad, Chris, and I led
Fall Line -10c sport -- Chris and Vlad led
Crack of Doom - 11c trad - Chris led

Sunday:

Bloody Fingers Corridor
Bloody Fingers 10a trad- Vlad, Chris, and Craig led
?? - 5.7 trad, Vlad led this, but I can't remember what it was called. Maybe someone else can fill me in on the details?

Flaming Rock

Tribal Boundaries - 5.10b sport -- Vlad and Chris led

Monday:

Elephant Rock
Rye Crisp -- 5.8 trad - Chris and Craig led
The Pygmies Got Stoned -- 10a sport (slab) - Chris led

?? - 5.9 sport -- Vlad led, can't remember the name of this one either.

Buzzard Perch Rock

Terror of Tiny Town -- 11a trad - Chris led

Tuesday:

Parking Lot Rock
Thin Slice - 10a trad - Vlad and Chris led.

Squamish!

2009-08-31T19:03:00.002-05:00

I know, I know, I still haven't posted a trip report about my week in Squamish. It was lovely, I've just been busy! I'll update this soon with a trip report complete with pictures! Hopefully before I get back from my climbing trip to City of Rocks ... but you may have to wait until after. I know, the suspense is killing you right? ;)

Vacation!

2009-08-12T16:05:00.003-05:00

Well, summer school is over and as soon as I finish grading and posting grades, I'm off on Vacation. First stop: Leavenworth for some chill camping and then up to Squamish to visit with my parents and hopefully get some fun climbing in and maybe a hike or two as well. I can't wait!

The only downside -- I'll be turning 30 while I'm there ... Getting older sucks! Aimee Mann captures how I feel about this birthday pretty perfectly.

First (safe) lead fall!

2009-08-10T14:16:00.003-05:00

I went out to Tieton last weekend with Adrianne and Vlad. It wasn't anyone's first choice, but it was raining in Sqamish and Smith was too long of a drive for a last minute trip, so we ended up in Tieton. And it was actually a really fun trip.

I can't find my guidebook, so I don't remember the names of any of the routes, but I'll try to add them in after I find the guidebook.

We headed down on Saturday morning. We stopped at a fruit stand to get snacks for the trip (peaches, cherries, and other treats), and go to the crag around noon. We went to Royal Columns because I've just never felt comfortable there on lead and I wanted to lead some of the climbs I've bailed on before. So I started on Mush Maker (5.7) and I still think it's a hard 5.7 and the gear placements were tricky in places. But I felt very comfortable the whole way up. After that, Vlad put up Inca Roads (5.9) which I've done several times on top rope and I finally feel like I could lead it. After that Vlad and Adrianne TRd some hard mostly bolted route that I just didn't have the energy for (not enough sleep mixed with nice warm sunshine makes Julia a very lazy girl). After that Vlad led a really fun 10a mixed route that was almost all face climbing. Really fun route! Adrianne and I both TRd and then took the rest of the daylight to hike back to the car.

We tried to camp in the unofficial camp ground, but it was under construction or something, so we decided to bite the bullet and just pay for the real camp ground and just headed out for dinner without setting up camp. Dinner was fabulous -- Mexican Food and margaritas really hits the spot after a day of climbing in the sun. By the time we got to the camp ground, all of us were so tired, we barely got ground tarps laid out and therma-rests blown up before we fell asleep.

We all slept in and got a pretty late start on Sunday. We headed to The Bend and started on a 5.8 that I can't remember the name of. I was leading and getting totally sketched out. I hung on a couple pieces and just wasn't climbing very well. And then, about 1/2 of the way up, I took a lead fall. It was a pretty lame fall and it wasn't very far ... but it was actually just what I needed!! It didn't hurt, it wasn't even that scary, it was over so fast. I screamed a little as I fell, but once that awesome #1 caught me, I felt fine! I checked my heart rate just to see and it wasn't even fast! I felt totally calm! So I took a little rest and then finished the route feeling totally confident. I got the rest of the route clean. :) After that, Vlad put up a really fun 10c finger crack that I really enjoyed!! And then Vlad and I top roped an 11 that shared anchors with a 10c that was equally fun but MUCH harder! I'll try to get the names of the routes we did Sunday and add them here.

Super fun weekend. Tieton still isn't my favorite place, but I enjoyed climbing there.

Heat Wave!

2009-08-03T13:37:00.003-05:00

I was really hoping to get some climbing in this weekend ... but it was about 90 degrees and I'm too much of a wimp! So I stayed home instead. On Saturday, Jeremy and I took his mom and her husband to a Puerto Rican restaurant in Seattle that we love and then spent Sunday cooling off at Greenlake before heading out for some tango dancing Sunday night. But next weekend, it's Squamish or bust -- I don't care how hot it is!!

Friday Milonga (I'm on youtube!)

2009-07-30T19:36:00.003-05:00

Someone made a video of everyone dancing on the crowded dance floor at the Friday night Milonga from Tango Magic. While watching it, I discovered that Jeremy and I make a brief appearance (we're on there for about 2 seconds). If you watch the video, it pans out at about 4:10. Watch the left side of the screen and there is a couple that moves to the left briefly revealing Jeremy and I for a couple seconds. We're pretty easy to spot because I have a big flower in my hair in the back next to my bun. Then it zooms in again and we're out of the frame, and then it pans back on us for another couple of seconds. Just thought I'd share! LOL

Seattle Tango Magic

2009-07-27T13:31:00.009-05:00

Yes, two dancing blogs in a row. Before my climbing friends start to worry, let me say that I have been climbing. I've even been to Squamish in the weeks between the Portland Blues Experience and Seattle Tango Magic. And it was awesome and I climbed and soaked in the beauty of Squamish and it is still my one true love. Okay, glad I got that off my chest. Now ...

I had the most amazing weekend at Seattle Tango Magic. Three days of intense tango classes, some good practice time, and four different Milongas. AMAZING. There were some periods of frustration and I do think there are some things I would do differently if I was in charge of the event ... but all in all it was a very informational and fun weekend.

Highlights included several lessons by Patricia Hilliges & Matteo Panero from Florence Italy. They were amazingly eligant, wonderful, dancers and very informed, friendly teachers. They did a performance at the Saturday night Milonga that was so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. Literally. I wish I had recorded it so I could share it. I'll keep searching youtube in the hopes that someone caught that little slice of heaven on video. In the mean time, here is a video of them dancing at another event. I don't think it's quite as breathtaking as the performance I watched, but you can see what beautiful and elegant dancers they are.

Other highlights were the lessons with and Oliver Kolker & Silvina Valz. Salvina in particular. I've never seen anyone have that much body awareness and control and be able to clearly articulate exactly what goes into the technique of tango from the most basic (and by basic, I mean really really difficult) body shapes to the intricacies and nuances of mental awareness and intention. Her performance on Saturday night didn't have the emotional effect on me that Patricia and Matteo did, but it was equally impressive and so precise! If it turns up on youtube, I'll share it as well. In the mean time, here's a video from another event that gives you a good idea of their style:

And of course dancing at the milongas in the evenings was a lot of fun. I feel like my lessons are finally starting to pay off and while I am still a beginner, things are starting to come together. And at the end of it all, I'm completely exhausted, but eager to learn more!

ETA: Had to add this video too -- I just can't get enough of these two:

Portland Blues Experience

2009-07-06T19:51:00.015-05:00

I spent 4th of July weekend at the Portland Blues Experience, which was part of the annual Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival.

Jeremy and I left Seattle early Thursday afternoon. We fought traffic all the way from Seattle to Olympia, stopping briefly in Tacoma to visit with his mom, and then it was smooth sailing for the rest of the drive down to Portland.

We got there and checked into our hotel around 7:30 and were sad to learn that the Etta James concert that we'd been looking forward to was canceled (apparently, she'd gotten sick and canceled her tour). We were tired from the drive, so we enjoyed the festival for a while, and then headed to bed early.

We spent the rest of the festival staying out dancing into the early morning hours, sleeping in as late as we could, spending afternoons perusing the many bands, foods, and other booths at the festival, and dancing in Pioneer Square. We spent evenings/nights dancing our hearts out at the various late-night dance venues. Highlights of the weekend included a Blues Cruise from 10 - 1 on Friday night complete with 3 levels of dancing, the best fireworks show I've ever seen on the water front, and a very well DJ'd late night event on Saturday with a very interesting venue dancing on the stage of an empty theater.

I also had a chance to learn more about dances I hadn't gotten a chance to see much of before including Charleston, Zydeco, and Balboa. And Jeremy and I taught each other what we knew about west coast and east coast swing and we managed to incorporate some swing moves into our blues dancing!

And we ended our stay in Portland with a visit to Powell's Books -- the biggest bookstore I've ever seen! And I came away from it with enough books to get me through the summer! :)

All in all, it was a great weekend!!

Another weekend in Squamish

2009-06-15T13:38:00.004-05:00

Adrianne, Laurel, and I headed up to Squamish on Friday. We got there in time to do a bit of climbing in the afternoon. We stopped at Murrin Park and Laurel and I led Wicker Cranium (5.9), Up from the Bog (5.8), Veils of Illusion (5.9), and all three of us top roped Holy Grail (5.10a).

On Saturday morning, the 3 of us met Rebecca and we roped up in 2 teams of 2 to do Calculous Crack. Adiranne and I roped up together and she led the first and last pitch and let me take the lead for all the rest. I got everything clean, felt pretty comfortable on all the leads which was a good confidence boost for me. We were the only ones on the route and the 4 of us hung out at the top of the route for a while before rappelling down into the gully (WAY better than walking off down broadway ledge!!) After that we met up with the whole group and had a great time cooking, talking, telling stories, and laughing. Sunday, we all headed to the Smoke Bluffs and I led Cold Comfort (5.9), and Picket Line (5.9) and felt very comfortable and got both leads clean. :) I also TRd Loose Lady (5.9) after Laurel put it up. It was a really fun climb, but pretty delicate in places and would have been a heady lead!

Awesome weekend!! I can't wait to head back up for more! (No pictures, my camera battery died on the first day.)

Here are a few pictures we all took with Laurel's camera.

Leavenworth Rockfest 2009

2009-06-08T18:58:00.003-05:00

I attended the 10th annual Leavenworth Rockfest last weekend with Jeremy, Adrianne, Vlad, and Christine. It was pretty different from the last two and I think much poorly attended, but I had a great time. We got a pretty late start and didn't get out to Leavenworth until Saturday afternoon. We headed up to Alphabet Rock -- we thought a roadside crag would be a good option so we could be sure to get to the festivities in time. Unfortunately, Dogleg Crack was taken the whole time so I didn't lead anything. But both Vlad and Christine took a turn on lead on Meat Grinder (and that crux still feels hard to me on TR) and Chris set up the 10a sport climb on TR as well. Before we knew it it was close to 5 pm, so we headed to Bridge Creek to set up camp, get some free food, and join in the festivities. I loved Sonnie Trotter's presentation (I always like seeing him) and was pleasantly surprised by Will Stanhope's talk as well.

Sunday, we were joined by Andy (he was looking for partners in the camp ground) made the long hike up to Pearly Gates where we were shortly joined by Adam and Carla (friends we made back at Vantage a while ago) and we kind of took over the crag. I put up No Room For Squares (5.8), gave Jeremy a little crack tutorial, and TRd some hard stuff that Andy, Chris, and Vlad were putting up. I wish that hike wasn't so long, but the crag is a lot of fun!! Vlad was running around with his camera the whole time so I may have some pictures to post at some point if he decides to share them.

And in other news, I came back to discover this story. WTF? Obama was pretty public about wanting to do away with DOMA and DADT when he was campaigning. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have voted for him if he had openly supported either one. And now white house officials are saying they wouldn't object to homosexuals being kicked out of the military and Obama is asking the supreme court not to take cases challenging DADT? Seriously, WTF?! That's not the guy I voted for. I really liked his speech in Egypt last week and I think he's been a great president in so many ways so far. And I feel like I've given him the benefit of the doubt as far as gay rights up until now. I was okay with him not doing anything and just letting this stuff work itself out ... because I think it is working itself out for the most part. But it seems now that he's actually changing his tune ... and if he doesn't change it back to the one he was singing while campaigning very soon, I may have to find another candidate to vote for in 2012!! Grrrrr

Squamish Happiness

2009-05-27T15:15:00.007-05:00

Adrianne and I headed up to Squamish on memorial day weekend for the first trip of the season. Her goal was to get more comfortable on lead and my goal was to see where I was at at the start of the season and maybe push myself on lead a bit.

I remember that I love Squamish, but memory is better at holding knowledge than feelings. So I'm always blind sighted with pure Joy on the first trip up every year. And this year was no different. The most important part of the trip was just being there in soaking up the sunshine and the beauty, feeling the movement of my body over the rocks.

Adrianne led the following routes:
Fern Gully, 5.4
Laughing Crack, 5.7
Cat Crack, 5.6
Davy Jone, 5.7
Klahanie Crack, 5.7

I led the following routes:
Rampage, 5.8
Corner Crack, 5.8
Sally Five Fingers, 5.8
1000 Pardons, 5.8
Cold Comfort 5.9
Mosquito, 5.8
Phlegmish Dance, 5.8
Mushroom, 5.9

We set up top ropes on the following climbs. I got both of them clean and leading both is a goal for the summer:
SM Delight, 5.10b
Jabberwocky, 5.10a

And since we didn't get any pictures -- here's a video for you to enjoy. An oldie, but a goodie and still inspiring!

What do pole dancing and climbing have in common?

2009-05-20T13:46:00.012-05:00

Lots actually – flexibility, body awareness, and strength for starters. But of course, there aren’t a lot of people who do both … at least I didn’t think so!

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about taking pole dancing lessons for a while. Nothing to do with climbing and I’m not becoming a stripper or anything. But I think it would help with some of the weaknesses I have in blues dancing. So I’m planning on signing up for pole dancing lessons as soon as I can fit it into my schedule.

And then randomly and for unrelated reasons, I was reading Sonnie Trotter’s blog today. And of course, the blog is almost all climbing related. That’s why I read it! And guess what I found!?

This:

So it seems I'm not the only climber thinking about pole dancing! LOL. I love it when my different interests intersect like that.

Climbing and Stuff

2009-05-04T14:27:00.002-05:00

Went to Vantage on Saturday with Adrianne, Jeff, Vlad, and Jeremy. We started the day at the feathers where Adrianne led her first 10a, Adrianne and I put up a few easy routes, Jeff and Vlad put up some harder routes, and then despite some rain, we hiked out to Sunshine Wall. It seemed that the rain was going to shut us down, but Jeff got started on Party in your pants anyway and shortly after, the rain stopped and we ended up having a very pleasant afternoon at Sunshine Wall (though we never did get any sunshine!)

Sunday, Jeremy and I slept in, hit up the REI sale, ran some errands, went to the Hot Iron Mongolian Grill for dinner (fun!) watched an old episode of Colombo (better than I expected) and then hit the hay.

Great weekend! Is it Monday already? :(

Weekend in Smith

2009-04-27T14:04:00.007-05:00

I got back late last night from a fun weekend in Smith. Heather was nice enough to invite me and my crew (Jeremy, Adrianne, Kristen, and a friend of Kristen's) to stay with her and Fred in Bend. We got in late Friday night and slept in a bit to give the rocks a chance to warm up. Unfortunately, it never really did warm up on Saturday and since it was much colder, cloudier, and windier than the forecast we all looked at, no one was properly dressed. We stuck to easier routes since it was Jeremy's first trip and Kristen's first in a long time. I led Cinnamon and Sugar (5.6), Bunny Face (5.7), Rabbit Stew (5.7), Lycopodophyta (5.7), and Five Gallon Buckets (5.8). After that we hurridly packed up and headed to the warmth of the car and then it was off for dinner at the Bend Brewing Co.

Sunday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We didn't get much climbing in, but all enjoyed the sunshine. Adrianne stopped off with Chris to TR some harder climbs while I put up Lichen It (5.7) and then Chris came over to offer up a Top Rope on a 10b that I didn't catch the name of, but I'll try to find out. It was a 35 m. climb requiring all 70 meters of his rope to top rope. Very fun!! By the time everyone had taken a turn on Lichen it and I was done TRing the 10b, it was time to leave. So Jeremy and I said goodbye to Adrianne and Kristen, stopped to enjoy some huckleberry ice cream on the way out of town, and then hit the road. Great weekend, and I can't wait for more climbing! I think 2009 is going to be a good season!

Girls Rock!

2009-04-20T13:14:00.004-05:00

I spent the weekend at Vantage taking the Girls Rock girls on their first outdoor climbing trip! We all had a blast singing along with the radio on the drive out, climbing in the glorious sunshine, enjoying the desert of Eastern Washington, cooking a camping feast, singing around the campfire while we made s'mores, and sleeping under the stars. I was so impressed with the kindness and support all of these girls have for each other and even though I didn't really get to climb much, it was fun watching a new generation of female climbers take to the rocks! I had a great weekend!

Jessica's Wedding

2009-04-15T15:38:00.010-05:00

I got back yesterday from a lovely trip to San Diego to see my sister and David get married. I have a few pictures and a short trip report here. If you want to see the professional wedding pictures, some of them are here: Click "photojournalistic weddings", then "client proofs." The password is "wales"

Fun in the Sun

2009-04-05T23:53:00.005-05:00

After a very cold, wet, rain filled week back in Seattle, the sun finally came out for the weekend!! Did some relaxing, heard some great live jazz music, and then went on a short hike up Little Si to enjoy the some sunshine Pacific Northwest style. :)

Back from Red Rocks

2009-03-31T19:06:00.002-05:00

I had a really great time climbing in Red Rocks last week!! I was so run down at the end of last quarter that I almost didn't even feel like going! But once I got there and connected with some climbing parters, I was so happy to be there climbing in the sunshine!! The only problem is that in my frenzied hurried packing, I forgot to bring my camera!! So no pictures! :( I'll come back later and add a list of the routes I did though.

And of course after a week of climbing and camping, I made my way back to Vegas to join my sister and her friends for her bachelorette party. There are loads of pictures from that, but you'll have to check out facebook if you want to see them. It was really great to see Jessica so happy with all of her amazing friends. And I now I can't wait to head down to San Diego for the wedding -- less than 2 weeks away!

Another day at Vantage

2009-03-02T14:01:00.004-06:00

The forecast said 43 and cloudy, but Vlad and I decided to head out to Vantage on Saturday anyway and I'm so glad we did!! It was an awesome day! My fingers were getting pretty numb on the rocks, so only did one lead: The Rod of God (5.8). Vlad put up Wild Thing (10a) and George and Martha (10a) and then we finished off with TRing Red M&Ms (12a). Of course neither of us got it clean, but it's a really fun route! :)

Sunshine!!

2009-02-21T19:37:00.002-06:00

The weather was perfect on Friday and I finally managed to get outside and do some climbing! Jeff and I headed out to Vantage for the first climbs of the season (in WA state anyway). I was a little nervous since the high was only supposed to be 50 and there was a lot of snow and frost on the drive out there. But by the time we'd hiked out to the sunshine wall, it was beautiful an warm -- I was climbing in my tank top all day! We only did a few easy routes, but I was able to lead both a trad route and a sport route, so I considered the day a success.

Then I was home in time for a night of blues dancing. You just can't have a better day than that! :)

My New Love

2009-02-09T06:31:00.020-06:00

I haven't blogged much about dancing lately ... not sure why since I've been doing so much of it. And blues is still my favorite. Blues swept me off my feet back in November at the Emerald City Blues Festival. It was love at first sight and it's only gotten better as time has gone on. <3

But Jeremy easily talked me into taking tango lessones with him. We compleated our first tango series last Thursday, and he took me to The Buenos Aires Grill to celebrate! We ordered one of the specials -- a mixed grill that was supposed to be served Argentine style, and a bottle of Malbec. I was expecting some good Argentine steak. I wasn't expecting an enormous mountain of meat! Wow, we did the best we could, but we ended up needing a doggy bag and my fridge is now full!

And while the food was good, it wasn't even the best part! They had dancers tango dancing around the restaurant between the tables and even on the counters. Very fun to watch. Except, watching dancing is never enough for me -- so really it was just motivation to get better so that I can *do* that! And my desire to go to Argentina has been resurrected!! Of course I haven't forgotten that, in addition to good wine and good dancing, they have amazing crack climbing there too... I am still a climber first and foremost! :)

Tired of Winter

2009-02-02T18:21:00.004-06:00

Spring just can't get here fast enough. The days are starting to get longer and the sun occasionally peeks out. But it's still too cold and wet to climb around here. I've been keeping my eye on the weather in Vantage. It's been sunny there and in the mid 40's. I think as soon as it gets up into the mid 50's (hopefully in the next week or two) it'll be time to start planning some trips out there! :)

And in anticipation of climbing season starting, I'm all booked up for Red Rocks Rendezvous -- and I'll be spending all of my spring break there!

In the mean time, I'll keep myself busy dancing. :)

Obama!!

2009-01-20T16:17:00.002-06:00

I find myself glued to the news today. I haven't turned it off since 8 this morning. I'm becoming a news junkie -- alternating between CNN and NPR (and sometimes both!). I am proud to be an American for the first time in my adult life and probably for the first time since I can really understand what that means. And it's amazing to see the contagious nature of hope and optimism that seems to radiate from Obama. So exciting!

Back in Seattle

2009-01-06T17:12:00.017-06:00

Well, I'm finally back in Seattle and settling pleasantly back into routine here. I had a nice time in San Diego visiting with my family and was lucky enough to squeeze in a trip to J Tree while I was down there. Click here to see a few pictures. Helen's has some better pictures up, click here to see them.

In Spite of Everything, I Still Love Seattle!

2008-12-22T10:13:00.010-06:00

I was supposed to fly to San Diego today (Yesterday? I've been up all night and am a bit disorientated) but the weather threw a huge monkey wrench into my plans.

This was my travel experience:
__________________________________________________________________

First, here's what was *supposed* to happen: My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:10. Jeremy was going to pick me up at 3 to take me to the airport. That flight would have taken me to Salt Lake where I would have landed at 8 and then got a connecting flight that left at 9.

But there was a huge snow storm in Seattle ... so here's what happened instead:
I got a call from Jeremy around 2 saying he was completely stuck in the snow and wouldn't be able to pick me up. Luckily he got stuck really close to home, but he still couldn't just leave his car there in the middle of the street, so we'll leave him there stuck in the snow waiting for a tow truck for now while I tell you what happened to me ...

I googled "Seattle airport shuttle," got about 10 hits and started calling. Not one of them was offering service due to the snow. So I looked up some taxi services and got the same thing from the first 5 I called. So I gave up on that for a while and I called the airline and was on hold for about 1 1/2 hours. Then I finally got someone who was in Africa and didn't seem to understand what the problem was (I don't think she was very familiar with snow), so she had to put me on hold for another 1/2 hour so she could talk to her supervisor. It's now 4:00. And the Delta customer service lady said they'd wave the $200 rescheduling fee for me, but I'd still have to pay the difference in price if I got on a flight that was more expensive. Fine -- I asked her to just try to get me to SD before Christmas. I was hoping for a flight the next day (Monday) because the weather forecast said that was the only day it wasn't going to snow until Christmas. But she couldn't find anything with an open seat until Dec 26th. She suggested that I just get to the airport as soon as I can and try to fly standby.

So I started going further down the list of taxi #'s I'd found. There were about 15 companies on the list and I'd only called 5 in addition to the 10 shuttle services. And I actually found one to come pick me up!! But by now it's 4:30 and my flight was supposed to leave at 5:10 which means it would start boarding at 4:40 and it was still showing up as on-time. I got to the airport at 4:50 and rushed to my gate (luckily baggage check and security didn't take long). I got there right around 5:10 and even at the gate the screen was showing it as on-time ... but the plane hadn't even gotten there yet. I was actually relieved. They didn't start boarding until 6:30, but at this point, I was considering the delay lucky.

So we all get on the plane. And then the pilot informs us that there is a plane in front of us in the que to get de-iced. So we may have to wait for a 1/2 hr or so until they're done and then the de-icers will move on to us. About 45 minutes later, he came on again to let us know that the de-icer broke and they were trying to fix it and bringing up another one in the mean time. By the time the second de-icing machine got there, the plane had frozen again and they had to start over. Which ended up being futile anyway since that machine broke too!! Of course with the weather, the people in charge of fixing the machines weren't able to make it in to work. This kept going on for hours machines are fixed and break again -- they have all of their machines out, but none of them stays in working order for long enough to complete a job. Finally, they put on Wall-E for us to watch and kept giving us updates -- the de-icing machine is fixed ... now it's broken again. Wall-E ends and we still haven't moved an inch. Then the pilot tells us they've given up on fixing the de-icing machines and are trying to find one to borrow from another airline. But they're all broken too (at this point only Delta and Southwest are operating out of Seattle because of this among other problems). He says they're going to keep calling other airlines, but if they can't find a machine to borrow, they're going to have to de-board the plane. And then they started another movie -- this one was Fred Clause (I think that was the name -- lame movie).

At this point I called Jeremy to see how he had resolved his ordeal! Turned out he had to sit in his car for several hours waiting for a tow truck. While he was there many other cars got stuck in the same place and when the tow truck finally got there, there was a car stuck in front of him so the tow truck couldn't even get to his car to pull him out. But they finally worked it out, got his car back into his spot and he got to go back to his warm apartment. I feel bad that he got stuck trying to come get me, but glad his troubles weren't worse!

Back to me on the runway ... We waited about an hour longer and they couldn't find a machine to borrow. So he started taxing back to the gate and people stood up and got ready to get off. Then the pilot came on the intercom again to say that United had a working de-icing machine that the were sending over and we wouldn't be de-planing after all. People re-stowed their luggage and settled back into their seats. So it starts on the plane in front of us and we wait another hour. The second movie of the night ends and we're still sitting on a plane on the runway. It's now been at least 5 hours. Another 1 1/2 hours go by. FINALLY the de-icing machine makes it's way to us and takes about an hour to de-ice our plane. It's now about 1 am and we've all been sitting on this plane since 6:30! It took a while to taxi over to the run-way with all the snow. The plane finally took off at 2 am!! I actually feel lucky though -- that was one of a very small number of planes to get out of Seattle today and it sounds like most airlines there will be grounded until after Christmas because the weather isn't going to let up there! Phew!

The plane landed around 3:30 am (taking into account the 1 hr. time change). They put me on a flight to San Diego that leaves Salt Lake at 9:30. I got a couple winks of sleep here and there on the plane, but for the most part I haven't slept. The plane left Salt Lake a bit late (around 10:15, and I *finally* made it to San Diego around noon. Phew!
__________________________________________________________________

And here's what this whole ordeal has made me realize. I love Seattle! Granted we don't have any clue how to handle snow up there. Any sane city would plow the and salt the roads and have enough working de-icing machines and the personnel to fix them (and with the plowed salted roads, they wouldn't be so understaffed). The weather isn't much better in Salt Lake, but everything is operating like clockwork here.

So we can't handle snow. But we make up for it in other ways. When I got to the airport, there were many other people in a rush to catch their flights, and people were noticing and asking fellow travelers when their flight was and letting frantic people go to the front of the baggage check and security lines (which is how I made it to my gate on time).

Once I got to the gate and was waiting for my delayed flight to board, I started chatting with a group of people also waiting. A lot of people had been there since early that morning. There was a young couple there with a 1 year old. They'd been there since 6 am and had been bumping around on standby after their flight was cancelled. And all three of them (including the baby) were in pretty good spirits. I mean, sure they were frustrated, but they were pleasant enough. There were some other passengers around me too -- a middle aged women trying to get to Orange County who had been on two previously cancelled flights. And a woman around my age going to visit her parents in Salt Lake for Christmas. We ended up forming this little group with the common goal of getting this family back home to Texas. It was so funny -- by the end of the couple hours we spent waiting, The baby was thrust into my open arms so the mom could run to another gate to check the standby status there and dad was busy talking to people at the gate we were waiting at. The middle aged woman was ready to give up her flight to get the family home. And the other woman my age helped them carry all their baby gear (car seat ect) over to the line to board). They finally made it on that flight and then I settled into a conversation with the woman my age. She was crocheting and she ended up teaching me how and even gave me one of her crocheting needles! A lot of people complain that about the supposed "Seattle Freeze" and how people from seattle aren't friendly. That may be true, but friendly is over-rated. I'd choose kindness of friendly any day and I think people in Seattle have that in spades.

When I finally got on the plane I noticed there here were a lot of very young children on the plane as expected during this time of year. I let out a little sigh of foreboding -- lots of young kids when paired with long delays and stressed out parents usually makes for fussy babies who make the flight that much more unpleasant for the rest of us. I was so impressed with how well behaved everyone was during such a frustrating time. People were giving each other their personal water bottles and sharing snacks. Not one of the kids got fussy -- even the very young ones. In general, people were just very kind with each other in spite of the visible frustration. Sure we joked around about our situation, but there was no yelling or meanness directed at anyone. Even the pilot commented on how patient we were. When I finally got to Salt Lake, I talked to a few people who were coming here from other places and they observed all kinds of bad behavior from just general rudeness toward other passengers to outright yelling, screaming, and cussing at airport personnel (as if they had control over the weather!). I know it's very possible that I just got lucky and was on a flight with a bunch of easy-going people. Surely the babies couldn't have behaved better just because they're from Seattle! Though I imagine they could have been taking behavior cues from their well behaved parents and siblings. Anyway, I can't help but think there is something about my fellow Seattleites (Seattletons? Seattleites?) that just makes us nicer, more easy-going, and better equipped to handle life's little frustrations.

I'm so happy to be going to visit my family and am very much anticipating the added bonus of some California sunshine and Joshua Tree climbing. But I am happy to call Seattle home. Even during a bad snow storm! :)

Snow!

2008-12-15T01:36:00.007-06:00

It's snowing in Seattle. It started snowing on Saturday and by late night, the city was a genuine winter wonderland. Sunday was mostly clear, but they forecast is calling for more snow later in the week. Usually that means a day or two off work for me, but since I'm already on break, it just adds a bit of winter excitement to the season. And it means my snowboard can come out to play soon -- probably not until after I get back from San Diego, but I'm looking forward to getting some fun boarding in this season since I missed almost the whole season last year!!

But fist, I'm flying south for the winter and am looking forward to some white sandy beaches in San Diego for a couple weeks of family time and some climbing in Joshua Tree!! It's been a few months since I did any real climbing and my trad rack is ready and waiting for some climbing fun! Check back for a trip report and hopefully pictures soon!

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy my week off at home in Seattle. :) And while I'm sure the snow will be a big inconvenience to most people, I don't have anywhere I have to be. So as long as I have someone to cuddle up with ;) I'll be enjoying the winter weather!

Dancing Cheek to Cheek ...

2008-11-24T17:00:00.019-06:00

Climbing is a life-long love affair for me. It's is more than a hobby, more than an interest, more than an activity that I do. It's part of who I am! I will never stop climbing and nothing will ever take the place of climbing in my heart.

And I am so cheating on climbing right now!! Dancing has officially swept me off my feet and I don't seem to be able to get enough. I love salsa. Always have, always will. But there's something about blues that's ... I don't know how to describe it, but I definitely look forward to blues more than salsa.

Salsa is fun and flirtatious, it's flashy and sexy ... but both the music and the dancing lack the subtly and intimacy of blues. You'll never end up dancing cheek to cheek in salsa. But in blues, the opportunity is there. With all of the partnered dancing I've done, I dance better with some people than others. And better to some songs than others. That's true for blues as well, but the song and the choice of partner seems to matter more with blues. With salsa, I find that I dance *to* the music and I dance *with* my partner. But with blues, if it's the right song and the right guy, you don't have to dance to the music, the music just moves you. And you don't have to dance with your partner, you just melt together. It doesn't happen to me very often -- probably because I'm still a beginner and not very good. And even when it's not perfect, I still love it. But when it does happen, it's ... well, heaven!

Frank Sinatra's words describe it much better than I could and Eva Cassidy sings those words better than he could. And though it isn't the really a blues song, it perfectly describes how I feel about blues dancing. So if my convoluted attempt to describe the feeling doesn't make sense, just listen to this:

"Come and dance with me
I want my arms about you
The charms about you
Will carry me through...

Up to heaven, I’m in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When were out together dancing cheek to cheek"

A body in motion ...

2008-11-17T22:33:00.005-06:00

Well, I've been a bit under the weather for the last week or so, both literally and figuratively. My trip to Smith a couple weekends ago was cancelled due to weather. Which I was sad about, but it ended up being for the best since I woke up Saturday morning not feeling well at all. I tried to rest up over the week, because last weekend was the Emerald City Blues Festival. Which was AWESOME. I LOVE Blues Dancing!!! I'm not any good at it, but I am so completely hooked!! I think climbing might take a back seat to dancing this winter ...

So this week, I'm going to hold off on my usual activities (climbing, salsa, yoga) and rest up to give my body the chance to kick this cold out!! And to prepare for my job interview on Friday. But if resting means no dancing this week, at least I can listen to blues music and close my eyes and imagine that I'm dancing ...

Mmmmmmmmm Blues ...

I couldn't have said it better ...

2008-11-11T22:25:00.001-06:00

What Would Jesus Do?

2008-11-08T02:24:00.006-06:00

Yes, it is a strange title for me to give a blog! It's a long one, but I urge you to read it anyway. And pass it on!

Any reader of this blog must know how I feel about Prop 8. And it's no secret that it passed in large part because of religion: specifically because Christians think homosexuality is wrong according to their faith. And they voted accordingly. I am not religious in the least. I am an atheist. But I have always thought of myself as an open minded and tolerant person. While I very strongly believe there is no god, I don't think there is anything wrong with people who do believe in God, or in a Goddess, or in many Gods, Goddesses, spirits, whatever.

This morning, there was a knock at my door. I was just getting out of the shower, so I didn't answer. When I left for work, I found a flyer promoting Christianity. I was so angry, that I tore it up and left it littering my apartment floor and stormed out. And then on the way to work it started sinking in that the passage of Prop 8 was causing me to lose my tolerance for religion and religious people.

I have to remind myself that I don't hate religion itself. And I certainly don't hate religious people. I have a few family members and friends who are religious, and they are both good and flawed individuals, just like the rest of us. But I find it disgusting when people use religion as an excuse or a shield for their prejudice, ignorance, and hurtful acts. I wonder if the all of the religious people who voted for Prop 8 know how much pain and hurt their actions caused on real, live, flesh-and-bone, people. Would they feel so confident about their vote if they saw, what they believe to be "God's creation" in tears, completely devastated because of what they did? Is it really Christian to inflict that kind of pain on others? It doesn't do me any good getting angry at ignorant people -- I can't change anyone's mind if I continue to be this angry. So now I'm thinking, what is Christianity *really* about? *Should* I be angry at Christianity and at Christians for the passage of prop 8?

The thing is, I've read the bible cover to cover. And all of the parts that are against homosexuality are in the old testament. I didn't notice any of that in the new testament. The main message of Jesus Christ was love and tolerance. "Turn the other cheek," and "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone." So, while it's true that the bible does have some anti-gay statements, and surely there are priests, ministers, reverends, and other religious leaders who are preaching homophobic messages ... But if the Christians in California really asked themselves, "What would Jesus do?" then there is no way Prop 8 would have passed.

Everyone absolutely has the right to believe gay marriage is wrong. NO ONE has the right to take away basic human rights from other people based on their personal beliefs. I do think the bible makes it clear people shouldn't have sex with other people of the same sex or gender. So if you want to believe that, no one is going to stop you, least of all me! But the bible also teaches tolerance, free will, and the right for people to make their own choices.

We aren't asking for gay marriage to be recognized by any religion -- they can all choose whether they want to recognize it or not. And if you and the religion you belong to chooses not to recognize "same-sex" marriages as marriage, that's fine. We are only asking that it be recognized by law. Not only is this kind of discrimination illegal based on both the federal constitution and the state constitution of California, it is also immoral by both human standards, *and* by Christian standards.

So I am asking you Christians ... for a second, forget what you've heard. Forget the propaganda and scare tactics. Forget the message of intolerance and hatred.

Take your beliefs back to their source. The old testament teaches an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
"But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." (Exodus 21:23–27)

Jesus' response to that?
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:38:45)

The old testament teaches that people should be judged and punished by others for going against God's law. Specifically, that people who commit adultery should be stoned to death:
"'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death." --Leviticus 20: 10

Jesus' response to that?
“…
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
…
He straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
…
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
...
Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.  
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared.” --John 7: 53 - 8: 11

I want to be *very* clear that *I* DO NOT consider homosexuality to be a sin. But certainly some Christians do. And perhaps the bible does, at least in the old testament. And it the new testament, it also very clearly teaches what we should do about sin and how we should treat fellow "sinners."

So, my Christian friends, it is true that the old testament condemns homosexuality. But read your bible, use your mind, and really think about Proposition 8. And then tell me, what do you think? What would Jesus do?

So Disappointed in California ...

2008-11-05T18:10:00.025-06:00

Last night was amazing!! I was euphorically happy, excited, and very very emotional. And I wasn't alone in feeling that way in Seattle. This whole city was one huge wild party here last night. I heard fireworks going off outside my house. People were dancing in the streets in the neighborhood just south of me and it was so loud, I could here them parting from here (they're about 4 miles away). A spontaneous celebratory parade broke out downtown. People were singing and celebrating in the U District. And champaign was consumed in large quantities all over the city. People were hugging and kissing perfect strangers. Everyone was so happy! I have never seen anything like it and I loved being a part of it!!

And then I woke up this morning and heard the news about Prop 8. I lived in California from ages 8 - 23. Although I will most likely never live there again, I still think of it as home. I was there 8 years ago to vote no on Prop 22. I was very young and idealistic (and I like to think I am still both!) and was so crushed and upset when it passed!! So many of my parent's neighbors in the house I grew up in had "Yes on prop 22" signs in their lawns. Before that, I never realized how wide-spread this prejudice and hatred was among people I knew. People who's kids I had played with or baby-sat. People who had bought girl scout cookies from me and offered me rides to school. It was a real eye-opener for me and I was very distressed.

So needless to say, I was so relieved and thrilled when prop 22 was overturned this year by the california supreme court!! So many couples got married shortly there-after and so many of those couples were people who had been in committed relationships for decades!! Seeing some of those couples on the news and hearing their stories actually made me get quite emotional! I was so proud of my home state for finally correcting their wrongdoing and finally allowing people what I believe to be their basic human right. Their stories were touching, their weddings were emotional, and I started to be hopeful that people would see how much love there was in these marriages and would finally see that not only is "same-sex marriage" not scary, but it can actually be such a beautiful thing! How can pure, honest, and genuine love ever be bad? I thought maybe now people would open their eyes and see gay marriage for what it is -- that it is essentially the same thing as any marriage and as such should never be forbidden!!

And then came Prop 8. So much worse than prop 22 because now to ban same-sex marriage, an amendment to the state constitution is necessary. I felt a mix of rage and deep sadness that this was even on the ballot!! It is just so wrong that I find myself clenching my fists as my eyes fill with tears. Many of my friends don't understand why I feel so strongly about this since I am not myself gay. But it doesn't matter. When I saw Schindler's List many years ago, there was not a dry eye in the theater. I realize that the Holocaust is a million times worse than prop 8, but I hope that people are moved by injustice and hatred even when they themselves do not belong to the group that is being discriminated against!!

"First they came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was a Protestant.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out."
--Martin Niemöller

So, just the fact that prop 8 was on the ballot disturbed me. It made me nervous. But after talking with friends and family in California, I also felt some hope that California would do the right thing and finally send a message that this kind of prejudice is not okay.

It made me so angry to hear people and ads advocating prop 8 sending the message that voting for prop 8 isn't necessarily discrimination. Some claim that they don't have a problem with gay people, they aren't prejudiced, and they don't hate gay people. Some will even go as far as to support "civil unions" with all the same legal rights as marriage. It's just the word marriage that they want to keep to themselves and not share with gay people. If you really aren't prejudiced, what is the harm of sharing the word along with all of the rights? Letting people use the word marriage to describe their committed relationships, their love, and their commitment to each other is necessary if we are to truly not discriminate. The only reason withhold the right to use that word and all that it implies is out of prejudice. The only thing this accomplishes is sending a message of hate. It says that there is something wrong with gay people and their relationships can't be as meaningful. You can hide behind your "They can have all the same rights, just not the word" reasoning all you want, but I see you for what you are! If your reasoning against gay marriage is due to religious reasons, then your church probably won't recognize the union anyway (which is fine, I fully support separation of church and state) so what are you worried about? Right and wrong is not the same thing as legal and illegal. You can continue thinking something is wrong if it is made legal if you want to. And I would respect that -- we could agree to disagree. But you have no right to impose your personal morals on other people when they aren't doing anything that could even come close to harming you or anyone else!!

California has hugely disappointed me today. Now a lot of married couples will have to again fight for their legal standing to continue to be recognized and again un-married people have the option taken away from them. I think this is headed to the supreme court, and I hope that it happens soon so that states aren't allowed to inflict such injustice on this group of their citizens. I think, when this issue finally makes it's way to the supreme court, my (future) children will look back at the decision in the same way that I look back at the Loving v. Virginia decision.

And in the mean time, when gay people are told by Prop 8 and all the prejudiced people that voted for it that they can't get married, I hope the gay community is shouting out, "Yes we can!!"

Some other links that have opinions I agree with:
An Open Letter to Dr. Laura
Top 10 Reasons Gay Marriage is Wrong

So Happy to be BLUE!!

2008-11-04T22:41:00.005-06:00

This has been such an amazing day!!

I have been kind of down about living in Seattle lately as the weather has been so gloomy. It got much worse with the time change. I feel like it's always dark out and even during the few hours of daylight we get, it's so cloudy. But today, I love living in Seattle!! I had to go to the bank after work and then the quickest way from that part of town to get to my polling place was to drive through the U District (University of Washington). All the students were out and about and I saw so many Obama signs being carried around, buttons and shirts being worn, etc. They were all decked out with Obama stuff at least as much as they are with University stuff for home football games! There was an air of youthful excitement in the air that's contagious. And as I drove through the neighborhoods to get to the elementary school to vote, there were Obama signs in front of so many houses, people walking around with Obama shirts complete with "I voted" stickers. I love living in such a liberal city where I really feel like I fit in!

I vacillated between feeling deeply reverent and euphorically excited today!!

I was listening to NPR on the way to work this afternoon and they were playing interviews conducted locally that morning outside the polls. One guy they interviewed was about 60 years old and he said, (paraphrasing) "I always come in and vote in person because I enjoy doing so. But I usually come in in the afternoon. This time, I was so excited to come in and vote, so I came first thing. I truly believe this will be the most important election of my lifetime."

I got all teary eyed listening to that and went to class all emotional!

I left work feeling optimistic -- rather than hoping for Obama to win, I felt like I was waiting for him to win!! It felt sort of like Christmas Eve in that even though I fully expected him to win, I couldn't wait to hear it!! There were several high school students volunteering at the polling place helping people find where to go etc. That was really cool to see! The norm in Washington is to vote by mail, so most people have already voted and few people show up in person. I enjoy it though -- but I actually kind of like how easy it is since it's never crowded and you never have to wait.

I spent the afternoon/evening listening to NPR and refreshing CNN's webpage as state after state turned blue. It looks like Obama is going to win by a HUGE landslide and get a really big portion of the popular vote. I am so happy. I am reacting like this is some kind of sporting event or game or something. But even so, I do I think this is so deeply important. I am celebrating a bit superficially but that's only because I am so ecstatic!! I do realize the huge world-wide impact this has. But I don't think that will really hit me for a while.

I ended my night glued to the news listening to Obama's speech. And it gave me chills. What an amazing day!!

Funny Email Being Forwarded Around ...

2008-10-30T00:19:00.001-05:00

Dear Red States:

We've decided we're leaving.

We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California , Hawaii , Oregon , Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois and all the Northeast. It may even include Florida and Ohio , they are seriously considering it.

We've given them until Nov. 4th to decide. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and
especially to the people of the new country. Since we're dropping the middle states we're calling it United America, or simply the U.A.

To sum up briefly:

You get Texas , Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty.
You get Dollywood. You can take Ted Nugent.
We're keeping Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. You get WorldCom.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get Ole' Miss.
We get Harvard and 85 percent of America 's venture capital and entrepreneurs.
You get Alabama .
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms, and the highest concentration of pregnant unwed teenagers.
Please be aware that the U.A. will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once.

If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, really we do, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire. We'd rather spend it on taking care of sick people, and educating our children.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's
quality wines, 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech
and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia . We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say
that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy Redies believe you are people with higher morals then we Bluies..

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico .

Peace out,
Blue States

Fun in the Sun.

2008-10-27T23:37:00.006-05:00

I can't believe how nice the weather has been lately! It's been a bit chilly, but completely gorgeous and sunny! :) :)

I spent my Saturday volunteering with Chicks Play Hard. I taught yoga and it was a bit of a challenge to teach 3 hour long yoga classes back to back, but it was very rewarding and very fun to be a part of the event! I had a great time!

Sunday, Helen and I headed back out to Vantage and were surprised at how hot it ended up being! I couldn't believe it, but I was actually searching for shade for a good part of the day! We did a good variety of climbs -- some sport, some trad, some easy, some hard (we were able to TR some hard 10's that shared anchors with the easier climbs we led) and I was feeling strong and confident on lead! So a good happy day all around! :)

Vantage again.

2008-10-18T21:56:00.004-05:00

Made the second trip out to Vantage this fall with Adrianne, Aaron, and Dave. It was beautiful and sunny and I got some leading in (both trad and sport), and enjoyed some good company. A fun and successful day. :)

Spirit Animal

2008-10-15T13:39:00.004-05:00

New Obsession

2008-10-14T03:07:00.008-05:00

http://www.dailycoyote.net

I am now completely in love with this woman's blog and with her life (thanks David). And Charlie!! I'm not insane enough to think that I could handle raising a coyote. Right now, I don't even think I could take care of a dog, as much as I want one. But since reading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsilver, I have been in awe of the creatures.

I love Seattle. I love the culture, the people, and the convenience of living in this city -- and the easy access to outdoor fun (climbing, hiking, snowboarding, mountaineering, etc.) is necessary for me. I'm not a city girl by any means, but I do like it here. Still, after spending the first 8 years of my life in Jackson Hole, WY ... I guess you can take the girl out of Wyoming, but you can't take the Wyoming out of the girl. I am now seriously fantasizing about up and moving to a ranch in the old West. I think I would really enjoy that lifestyle! But as I can't yet figure out how I would make a living there, I will have to get my fix by frequently checking The Daily Coyote blog.

Finally went climbing again!

2008-10-13T14:09:00.002-05:00

Since I left Squamish, besides a couple short climbs Yosemite, I didn't climb at all in September!! What a waste of a great climbing month! But I had a lot going on so ...
I finally took a trip to Vantage with Adrianne on Sunday. I wasn't feeling well and didn't get much sleep the night before, but it was a good day none-the-less. We decided to spend the day at the Feathers, which I've hardly climbed at before. The morning clouds cleared up by the afternoon and we had a beautiful afternoon and did almost every climb in the area between 5.6 and 5.9. We even ended up running into Chris -- an old friend from the WAC who joined us for our lest few climbs of the day. Sorry -- no pictures.

Yosemite!

2008-09-16T01:12:00.002-05:00

Well, I managed to get to Yosemite for a few days after all and I had a great time visiting with Jessica, David, and my dad.

Yosemite Cancelled.

2008-09-09T16:00:00.004-05:00

Well, this would have been the 3rd day of climbing in Yosemite ... unfortunately, the trip was postponed several times and then finally cancelled. I'm sure I'll climb there someday ... maybe next Fall ...
:(

Back in Seattle

2008-09-03T14:40:00.005-05:00

Well, I'm finally back in Seattle. Kurt came out for Labor Day Weekend and then he helped me pack up and clean up and now I'm back in my apartment settling back in and taking it easy. You can read all about it in my Summer in Squamish blog.

And now I'm off to get my oil changed in preparation for the drive down to Yosemite. Kurt managed to get a week off of work so we're headed down on Saturday for a week of climbing and then a relaxing weekend with my family. I am so excited I can barely contain myself!!! :)

A woman in the White House?

2008-09-02T21:48:00.004-05:00

Surely we'll see a woman in the white house at some point. Maybe even Hillary in 8 years (doubtful, but I'd vote for her). But Palin ... as much as I'd like to see a woman in the white house, not this one. This article pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about her! I've known I was going to vote for Obama since Hillary finally gave up when it was clear he was the choice of the democratic party. I'm way to liberal to ever vote for a republican anyway. But Sarah Palin is an interesting character. Looks like this election just got even more interesting!

One Year Anniversary of Breaking my Ankle

2008-08-28T17:22:00.004-05:00

So I decided to put all the posts about my ankle on one page today. I mostly just copied and pasted blog entries about my ankle complete with pictures so the whole story would be all in one place. And I added a post to give an update (with pictures) on how the ankle is doing today since the doctors said it would be about as good as it would ever get after about a year. Click here to see the whole broken ankle blog.

On My Birthday ...

2008-08-21T11:03:00.031-05:00

So, I’m older today and not much closer to some age-dependent goals than I was last year …
But rather than focus on the negative, and because I just don’t want to focus on myself this birthday, I’m choosing to do something else with this day. I’ve been reading "The Rock Warrior's Way" lately and it’s really resonating with me right now. One of the main tenants of the book is to focus every experience both good and bad on what you learn from it or what it teaches you. So I decided to spend the day reflecting on what important people in my life have taught me. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

Things I’ve Learned From My Dad

Love your problems. It seems kind of counter intuitive, so it took me a long time for the me to accept the power of this lesson. It was actually reading “The Rock Warriors Way” that finally let this message sink in.It’s sort of like this: Imagine watching a movie or reading a book or hearing any story where nothing happens. The characters always get what they want and achieve their goals – they are never challenged and they never learn anything. What a boring story! We all think that we just want things to come easily to us, but if life were really like that, not only would we be eternally board and ungrateful, we would also never really learn anything. In problems, we fid a way to learn not only from challenges, but we also learn from any outcome -- success or failure. So I’ve finally learned to love my problems (though I sometimes have a hard time with this when I’m in the mist of a big problem).
Take a risk every day. Small risks are fine, and always conscious risks of course. To really embrace risks, you have to accept any outcome, even failure. Even broken ankles! My dad seems to think failure is easier to accept for some people than success. Maybe he’s right about that too (my experience with my dad is that he usually ends up being right -- grrrrr). I believe that for me failure is much scarier than success. But I’m learning to accept the possibility of failure as well, which will make me a better risk-taker. And I’m learning that it’s okay to back off from a risk if the failure of that risk is unacceptable for me.
Sometimes you have to let go to get a better grip. This is a perfect lesson to me because of the obvious application to climbing. Sometimes you’ll have a great jug, a bomber handjam, or you’re standing on a ledge. And you’re not sure how good that next hold will be. But you have to let go and try for that next hold or you'll never make upward progress. Or maybe all holds you’re using are precarious. And you can see what looks like a perfect handjam right above you. But because all the holds you’re using are small, letting go with anything might cause you to fall. Of course the option of just staying where you are is just an illusion. If you stay there for too long without making upward progress, you will fall for sure. Life is the same way. In the same way that climbing necessitates continuing to move up, life necessitates continuing to move forward – even when you’re scared and even when doing so makes you worry that you will fall/fail. Which is why friends are the perfect name for climbing protection!! They make your falls safe. It’s your responsibility to make sure they’re good – but if they are, falling isn’t so scary.

Wow – this is getting cheesy. Let’s continue anyway.

Things I’ve Learned From My Mom

Have fun. All the time. That doesn’t just mean do things I think are fun. It means I need to find a way To have fun with whatever I’m doing. My mom can make a party out of traffic school! Seriously, I’ve seen her do it and it’s part of why everyone loves her so much. Everyone knows that no matter where you are, it’ll be a party if my mom is there. I tend to be a very goal orientated person, which can sometimes prevent me from enjoying the experience that takes me to my goal. And when that happens, the goal can become empty. When I focus on enjoying getting to the goal rather than reaching it, not only does the experience become more fun, but I also get more out of the goal. And I am more likely to reach my goal rather than giving up. Plus, life is just better when you’re having fun. I’m still working on this one – it doesn’t always come naturally to me. But I’m aware of the lesson and that’s the first step.
Fight back. Fun loving though she is, you don’t want to piss my mom off. She seems so sweet, and she is. But piss her off and you’ll be sorry. I’ve seen her intimidate even the most aggressive bitches. I don’t quite have the talent she does and I try to be civil. But sometimes being gracious and rational doesn’t work with some people – sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Sometimes people need to be put in their place. And no one does that better than my mom. You just can't win in a fight with my mom. You may get a rise out of her -- a diatribe of filthy cussing and red glowing eyes -- the whole nine yards. But she has fun with that too (see above lesson), so in the end she wins.

Things I’ve Learned From My Sister

Don’t hold grudges. Sometimes people suck. Most of the time, your people – the people you choose to be in your life, friends, family members, significant others, loved ones – most of the time those people don’t suck. But once in a while they will. They will do things to hurt you and to disappoint you. They will betray your trust and let you down. And it’s natural to feel angry and upset when that happens. It’s okay to feel that way, but then you need to let it go. People think you have to forgive people when this happens. But you don’t. Sometimes people do really shitty things and they don’t deserve to be forgiven. But you do need to let go of the hurt and anger. My sister is so good at this. Sometimes she gets distance from the person, sometimes she ends the relationship entirely, and sometimes she forgives the person. But no matter what, she lets it go, doesn’t hold grudges, and moves on unburdened in her life. It’s a natural talent for her, but is something I have to work more at.

Okay, that’s it for now. Those are the lessons I’ve learned from the people who have been with me the longest. I have learned other things from other people – maybe I’ll come back later to post about those.

Raining ...

2008-08-19T11:39:00.005-05:00

After spending the weekend climbing with Kurt in Squamish (see trip report and pictures here), we checked the forecast for the coming week -- and it looked like rain every day until Friday. With a forecast like that, Squamish would be pretty boring. So I decided to go back to Seattle with him. I'm looking a the partly sunny sky right now though and wondering if I actually could have gotten some climbing in up there! But I'm enjoying spending my evenings with Kurt and hopefully it will be nice and sunny (but not too hot) up there for the rest of the summer!! There are some routes I would still like to do.

A Perfect Relaxing Weekend

2008-08-11T09:59:00.008-05:00

I did some really fun climbing last week including a trip up the Squamish Buttress -- check my Summer in Squamish blog to read all about it.

Kurt and I waffled back and forth abut where to spend the weekend. The forecast for Squamish looked pretty bad on Saturday and okay on Sunday, so we weren't sure if it was worth the trip for him to come up to Squamish. I was more than willing to drive down to Seattle to hang out on Saturday and maybe climb at Index on Sunday. But Squamish looked like it *might* be climbable ... so after much deliberation, we finally decided I'd make the drive down to Seattle.

I got in late Friday night, and we went and got a pizza and then went to bed. We woke up on Saturday, made a quick run to Target to get me some yoga pants and then headed to Shakti Vinyasa Yoga in Ballard for a morning yoga sessions. I never taken a heated yoga class, and I'm officially hooked! It was great! I could do so much more than I can normally do on my ankle since the break! We then headed to Wallingford for fantastic breakfast at Julia's and then went to explore Gasworks park a bit and sat in the sun and watched the boats on Lake Union for a while. After that, it was back home for some serious R & R. We got to hear some serious Thunderstorms (rare for Seattle early that evening). And then it was off to get some Thai food for dinner.

We slept in really late on Sunday and walked to a nearby coffee shop for some breakfast and pretty much lazed around for a good part of the day. Then we headed back to Ballard for a 4:30 yoga class. Then a quick trip to REI to pick up some things (including the climbing movie: Return to Sender). We had dinner at Blue C sushi and followed it up with some yummy cold stone ice cream and then headed home to watch Return to Sender and then hit the hey.

My plan was to head back to Squamish today. But I don't have climbing plans until Tuesday and the forecast says it's going to rain on Tuesday. So I think I'll stay an extra day and drive back in the rain tomorrow in time to meet my climbing partner for some Cragging on Wednesday. And then, if all goes according to plan, I may be going up The Grand Wall on Thursday! :)

Some awesome photo prints for sale

2008-08-02T17:22:00.002-05:00

My sister's fiancé is a pretty skilled photographer and some friends convinced him there might be a market for some of his photography. Check it out -- he's got some great shots and they're reasonably priced. Click here to visit his on-line store.

Moved Squamish Posts

2008-08-01T12:21:00.005-05:00

So I decided to make a new blog all about my summer up here. The posts I had here on my main page have been moved over there and I added a bunch of pictures. Be sure to check that blog if you're interested in seeing what I'm up to this summer.

I also managed to get some pictures up of all the pre-summer weekend trips that I never posted pictures of. Click here to see them. I guess rainy days make me blog-productive. LOL

Fun in the Sun

2008-06-30T17:22:00.004-05:00

Kurt and I had a great relaxing weekend. With forecasts of all of the local climbing areas being way too hot, we decided to take it easy on Saturday. We hung out around the house all morning, and then headed over to Aqua Verde for an afternoon of kayaking and then some yummy mexican food for dinner. Lucky for me, Kurt was driving home so I indulged in a margarita and got a bit goofy. We ended the day with a movie and then headed to bed. Our plans for Sunday were climbing at Index. Kurt tried to get me up early ... and after a slow morning, we were on the road before 9 am. We fought the heat at Index and did some mostly easy climbs. I led the fun hand-crack pitch of The Great Northern Slab and we broke Toxic Shock into two pitches so that I could lead the 5.8 start variation and then Kurt took the gear and put up the rest of the climb. Kurt also put up a ridiculously hard 5.8 crack around the corner form The Great Northern Slab and linked it with the climb above it. After those short 6 pitches, we were way to hot to do any more climbing. So we headed to REI for some new gear before going home for a light dinner of salad and salmon. And then we slept with just a sheet and with all the windows open and the fan going full blast all night.

Last Trip to Smith until Fall

2008-06-23T12:52:00.007-05:00

Adrianne, Kurt, and I headed out to Smith for some climbing last weekend. Virtually nothing went according to plan, but we had a good time anyway!
The original plan was for the 3 of us to drive up after work on Thursday, camp, and climb all day Friday and Saturday, 1/2 day or so on Sunday, and be home in time to get a good nights sleep for work Monday morning.
But Kurt ended up having to take a couple days off to attend a funeral on the East coast. And on top of that, a bunch of work stuff went wrong so he ended up on the phone more most of the day on Friday on conference calls. And Adrianne's cat-sitter fell through, so she couldn't stay for Sunday. And the weather was less than cooperative. Friday was a bit hot, but we did fine in the Lower Gorge (I led a 5.8 that I can't remember the name of a few climbs to the left of Cruel Sister).

Saturday, we were chased off several times by rain. We met Heather and Fred at the Student wall, but I don't think any of us were all that impressed with the area. We wound up down in the main area top-roping some hard stuff that Fred put up. And Sunday was just too hot! But I got in another lead anyway (Lion's Jaw, 5.8) and Kurt put up Moonshine Dihedral again (5.9). So, in spite of it all, we had a nice trip and it was nice to be able to meet up with Heather and Fred for some climbing -- and they even let us stay at their place out of the rain on Saturday night! :) They have a very nice apartment in Bend and it was nice to visit with them.

Oh, and we had a slight camera debacle as well -- all 3 of us ended up with cameras that either didn't have a memory card, didn't have a battery, or had a dead battery. Kurt solved the problem though by buying a car charger for his camera battery. We still have more pictures of us goofing off than climbing (it was just that kind of trip I guess), but I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

Leavenworth Rockfest 2008

2008-06-16T15:14:00.003-05:00

It turned out Leavenworth Rockfest was the weekend after the quarter ended for me this year! I was feeling exhausted, but happy to go out and have a chill weekend, do some climbing, socialize, etc. I think Kurt was feeling more ambitious than me, but he hung out with my lazy exhausted ass anyway. Originally, we were going to drive out on Friday night, but we ended up not getting on the road until late Saturday Morning.

We set up camp and then headed up to the Pearly Gates, but it was really crowded and we didn't do much climbing before it was time to head back for the free BBQ, raffle, and other Rockfest excitement. The BBQ was nice and we both bought 5 raffle tickets. I didn't win anything, but Kurt won twice!! He also pulled a chalkbag, some chalk, and a headlamp out of the air (they were throwing them into the crowd). He even got some free stuff for me (a 5.10 tank top, a chalk bag, and a headlamp). And then it was time for Kate Rutherford's slide show. I'd never really heard of her before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed her talk immensely. She had some great pictures, was a great speaker, and I really liked her attitude.

On Sunday, we headed up R&O (supposedly a 4 pitch 5.6, but we did it in three). Neither of us thought it was very remarkable and when we got down, we decided to get out of the heat and head over to Index to finish the day. We only had time for Kurt to put up Godzilla (a very fun, very hard 5.9) before we were both really hungry for dinner, so we headed to Chipotle for some burritos on the way home. Now I have a whole week to recover, submit final grades, pack up my apartment for storage, and then Kurt, Adrianne, and I (and anyone else who wants to come) will head to Smith for a 3 day weekend next week. And then I'm off to Squamish for the summer as soon as the weather gets nice up there.

Tired!

2008-06-06T22:09:00.005-05:00

So the quarter is winding down and finals are next week. Which means I've been crazy stressed lately trying to get everything graded and wrapped up. So I haven't been updating. Memorial Day weekend was kind of a bummer. Saturday was actually beautiful weather, but I couldn't get out because I had to go to the Girls Rock graduation that evening. It was worth it though -- I really love that program and I'm kind of bummed that I won't be climbing with my mentee anymore, she was a really amazing girl! The rest of the weekend had some pretty crummy weather, but I did manage to get out to Exit 38 on Monday. Nothing spectacular though ...

Last weekend I went to Tieton with Kurt, Adrianne, and Dave. It was a pretty chill weekend of climbing. None of us were feeling particularly ambitions or motivated (except maybe Kurt), but we had a good time nonetheless. Adrianne managed to get some pictures.

This weekend I'm taking a break from climbing, getting some much needed rest, and doing some work. Next weekend is Leavenworth Rockfest. And after that, Kurt and Adrianne are taking Friday off so we can get 3 days of climbing in at Smith. And then ... Squamish all summer!!! Weeeeee!

Return to Squamish

2008-05-19T01:23:00.008-05:00

It got freakishly hot up here in the Pacific North West last weekend. I was planning on heading down to Smith with some friends to meet up with Rebecca and Sarah (The Vancouver girls I met at Red Rocks). But when I looked at the long range forecast there last Monday, it was predicting temps in the 90's. And it was supposed to be in the 80's in Seattle. So I held my breath and crossed my fingers and checked the Squamish forecast. It was too good to be true -- in the 70's and nice and sunny. So I convinced Kurt and Adrianne to head up there with me instead. Kurt wrangled Bill into the group, and the four of us headed up early Friday afternoon. I had an amazing time. Got a lot of climbing in, and even did several leads including a 10a.

Between Adrianne, Kurt, and me, we ended up with a ton of PICTURES!! Click HERE to see my trip report and pics! :)

I love Squamish. It's definitely one of my favorite places. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I could feel Squamish seeping into my soul. Everyone talks about soul mates, and I don't believe in those. But there is something about that place that has always felt like home to me from the first time I climbed there and breaking my ankle doesn't seem to have affected my feelings for the place. It felt good to have Squamish welcome me home, albeit for a short visit. I'm thinking I might return for a very long visit though again this summer ...

Once again, Steph Davis seems to perfectly express how I feel (see the clip below). Different place, same feeling.

Check back for updates. Climb on!!

Tieton

2008-05-12T20:43:00.005-05:00

Kurt and I planned on driving out on Saturday morning and getting in two days of climbing. But as I was getting ready on Saturday, I was limping pretty badly and my ankle was really hurting. It had been hurting and swollen all day Friday as well, and I thought it would be fine by Saturday, but it wasn't. I think I pushed it a little too hard at Salsa last Thursday. So I decided to take it easy on Saturday and Kurt and I spent a chill afternoon together. We went to see Iron Man. I wasn't sure what to expect since I usually like Super Hero movies, but am generally not a fan of war movies. I think the movie really was kind of half and half, so I sort of half liked it. Nothing spectacular, but worth seeing IMO. Then we had some Thai food and headed out to Tieton to camp for the night and climb all day Sunday. But then Sunday morning ended up being *really* cold and the Royal Columns (where we planned on climbing) was in the shade. That paired with pretty strong gusts of cold wind had us getting a pretty late start. But we did get in a great afternoon of climbing in the sun and we met up with Dan and Kelsey out there and were able to hang out with them for most of the day. My camera battery died and since it was just the two of us, we weren't able to get any really good pictures, but you can check out Kurt's pictures here if you like. :)

Leavenworth :)

2008-05-05T10:00:00.003-05:00

I spent a very fun day of casual cragging in the sun in Leavenworth with Kurt, Aidrianne, Kelsey, and Dan yesterday. Got another trad lead and a sport lead under my belt and I hardly felt nervous at all. :) Click here for a short trip report and pictures.

Smith Rock

2008-04-28T15:01:00.010-05:00

Kurt and I headed down to Smith Rock for the weekend and had a fabulous time!! The weather and the company couldn't have been better and my ankle hardly complains at all about climbing anymore. I got in 4 leads (2 sport and 2 trad) and my lead head certainly took a bit of a beating along with my ankle last August, but it's coming back! We ran into Fred Beckey out there and Kurt convinced me to ask him if I could take a picture with him. I didn't want to bother him, be he seemed completely fine with it. Click here to see a trip report complete with pictures.

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone ...

2008-04-19T21:07:00.015-05:00

You know the saying, "When it rains it pours."? Well, this past fall/winter, I could definitely relate to that! It seemed that every possible thing that could go wrong did and ... and I'm getting sidetracked, because that's not really what I want to talk about. I think there needs to be a saying that's the opposite of "When it rains it pours." I can't think of anything catchy -- maybe one of my faithful blog readers will come up with something. But I'm finding that life has a way of balancing things out.

Right now, I can't ever remember a time that I was happier. It seems everything in my life decided to go right at once. I'm teaching 4 classes this quarter, and am throughly enjoying each one. I can walk, which isn't very exciting for most people, but after not being able to use my foot for so long, every step I take gives me immense pleasure! I've been climbing twice a week at the rock gym again, which again is just the usual for me, but also something that I'm so happy to be able to do again!! I've been getting outside to climb somewhat regularly and am looking forward to a summer full of climbing! I also started salsa dancing regularly again -- I hadn't been in so long, I almost forgot how much I love it! And I've been volunteering for Girls Rock every Monday afternoon and I'm so happy to be part of such an awesome program! And on top of all that, my sister just got engaged to the the greatest guy!! I'm so happy for them, I can barely contain myself!! And there may be a certain someone who is contributing to my excessive happiness, but I'll keep that news to myself for now ...

I was supposed to go to Vantage this weekend with the Girls Rock program to have our outdoor trip, but it was canceled due to weather so we met up at Vertical World instead to do more indoor climbing on Saturday and then the mentors went out to Aqua Verda for margaritas afterwards. My mentee is just the most amazing girl!! I am really enjoying teaching her to climb and watching her improve every week. And then sitting on the covered deck drinking Margarita's with some really amazing women all afternoon/evening ... I can't think of a better way to spend a rainy Seattle Spring Saturday.

On Sunday, since it was the last day the ski resorts will be open for the season, I got my snowboard out of storage and headed up to the mountains with Kurt to see if my ankle could handle some snowboarding. It held up fine, I hardly even noticed my ankle the whole time. It was snowing most of the day and then at the end of the day, the sun came out an the last few runs were absolutely perfect -- beautiful powder snow, snow covered trees, and patches of blue skies. Here are a few pictures of me boarding in the freak spring snow storm, Kurt and I on the lift, and the sun shining through the clouds.

Gluttony in Southern California

2008-04-15T02:25:00.003-05:00

I left for a the Western Psychological Association conference last Tuesday. It's been a while since I've been to a conference and my first time attending as an instructor, so I was really looking forward to it. Plus, it was in Irvine so I got to see lots of sunshine and also took a slight detour and was able to squeeze in a short visit with my family. Jessica and David picked my up early Tuesday evening and we all headed up to my parents house for dinner. My mom loves me more than I deserve to be loved by her and always gets really excited when I visit. So she prepared an amazing dinner -- sauteed shrimp, grilled steak, roasted artichokes, and an amazing fruit salad. As is the tradition in the Wales' household, dinner is never ready when guests arrive and much of the enjoyment of meals is that everyone gets involved in preparing them. And of course, as we're preparing meals, we're mixing drinks and everyone (except me because I don't really do before dinner drinks) was pretty wasted by the time we sat down at the dinner table. And then we had not only wine, but also champaign with dinner! It was a great meal, though I have told David that he is no longer allowed to go drunk internetting. Not even to check his baseball stats! After dinner we all retired to the entertainment room to catch the end of the Padres game. My Parents and David commandeered the couch, so Jessica and I cuddled and giggled through the end of the game together on the love seat.

I woke up early on Wednesday to drive up to Irvine with Amy. Wednesday was a small teaching workshop and I actually really enjoyed it -- in fact, I think it was the best part of the conference. Wednesday night I went out to dinner with all of my colleagues and some other people to the Melting Pot where we treated ourselves to the most fabulous fondu meal! Thursday and Friday, I saw some really great talks (and a couple not so great ones) and on Thursday night Worth Publishers treated us to a lovely gourmet meal. On Saturday, I wasn't feeling all that well, so I went back to SD to hang out with the family some more. I worked on my on-line class for a good part of Saturday, but also made time to go for a long walk with my dad (you can see pictures on his blog) and also to hang out by the pool overlooking the ocean for a few hours. Yeah, my parents have a rough life. On Sunday, I went shopping with my mom, and then everyone got together for dinner at Old Town (mmmmmmmm ... Mexican food) before dropping me off at the airport.

After my trip to Red Rocks followed shortly thereafter by this trip to Southern California I am quite tan and a bit confused by all this wet stuff that keeps falling out of the sky. But I'm in very good spirits. And after Salsa dancing tonight I can't seem to stop smiling. Hmmmm ... wonder what that's about ...

We Shall Dance!!

2008-04-08T01:10:00.003-05:00

So I recently bought a new pair of salsa shoes and I decided my ankle was up for trying them out. So I got all dolled up after climbing at the gym and headed to Century Ballroom. It was awesome!! I almost forgot how much fun Salsa dancing is, it's been so long since I've gone! But I had a blast and my ankle did just fine on the dance floor. I think Monday night salsa dancing might be a regular thing now that I have a rock climbing partner during the day on Mondays! :)

Leavenworth!

2008-04-06T02:26:00.002-05:00

Again, I planned on a weekend of climbing at Smith Rock, and again a less than optimal forecast suggested a change of plans. The weather looked kind of crappy everywhere for Sunday, so Kurt and I decided to just take a day trip to Leavenworth. There was a lot of snow in the passes and even the mountains across the way from the climbing areas were covered with snow. But it was sunny and warm where we were and we had a great day. We climbed Givler's Dome (2 pitch 5.7+), Dogleg Crack (5.8), a sport climb right next to Dogleg that I forgot the name of, and Meatgrinder (5.10c). All are routes I've climbed before, but I was happy to get on them again to see both how much I've improved since last year, and how much my ankle is holding me back. I'm still having a hard time jaming in cracks with my left foot so I didn't feel comfortable leading any of the cracks, but otherwise, I am climbing better than I did last spring! :) I should be back on lead again in cracks by summertime.

Happy Days in Red Rocks!

2008-03-31T21:44:00.006-05:00

I spent 10 days in Red Rocks on a climbing trip for my spring break. I had an amazing time -- I couldn't stop smiling!

This was a much-needed trip for me. My ankle held me back a bit, mostly on the hikes. But I taped it up every day and was very careful about my footing and it seemed to hold up okay. I was limping pretty badly on my way to the airport after everything I put it through, but it seems pretty much recovered this evening. Now all I have to do is get my lead head back and I’ll be back in the game!

But more importantly, this trip gave me a much needed cleansing of the soul. Climbing rejuvenates me like nothing else. After having my ankle shattered and the depression that came from not being able to do any of my usual activities, I forgot who I was a little. And after that and much worse, my heart was broken. I really needed this trip to get my spirit back. I returned home feeling whole and happy, just as I’d hoped. I’m also much stronger and tanner and I’m ready for climbing season in the Pacific North West to begin!!

Unfortuntaly, my camera got soaking wet early in the trip, so I don't have many pictures. But click here for a full trip report and I'll try to add more pictures as they trickle in from friends and climbing partners.

Climb On!!!

Happy First Day of Spring!!

2008-03-20T19:38:00.009-05:00

Today was the first day of Spring and the last day of the quarter for me, so I've been super busy trying to finish up grades and wrap everything up at the same time as I'm packing and getting ready for my trip to Red Rocks. I was running errands for most of the day today and would have been moping about how un-springlike the weather was, but they were handing out free daffodils in Fremont and how can you mope when you're carrying around daffodils on the first day of Spring? Besides, I can't complain about the weather when I fly out to Red Rocks tomorrow where it's supposed to be sunny and in the high 70's every day. That's actually a bit warm for climbing weather, but you won't catch me complaining! I'll be soaking up the sun and come back to the seattle gloom with a fresh tan and a fresh outlook! Happy Spring!!!!

Girls Weekend in Seattle

2008-03-16T16:10:00.009-05:00

Megan drove up from Oregon for a visit this weekend and although we got the typical dreary Seattle weather, we had a great time! We did all the things girls are supposed to do -- shopping at Target, margaritas at Rosita's, watching movies and eating ice cream straight out of the carton, and staying up until 5 in the morning sharing secrets ;) And I even managed to drag her to the rock gym to teach her the ropes and get her hooked on climbing so she'll join the crew on what will hopefully be many trips to Smith Rock this spring. (pic)

Oh, and I signed up to be a mentor for Girls Rock -- a local climbing program for middle school girls, which I'm super excited about. I start Monday! :)

Yet another day in Vantage

2008-03-09T15:26:00.004-05:00

I headed up to Vantage again last weekend with Kurt and Carsten. It was a beautiful sunny day, and for the first time, I wasn't thinking about my foot on every climb. It's still not all the way healed and I was limping on the hike out, but it was much better than last week! We did the following climbs:
Party in Your Pants (5.8 trad)
Ride 'em Cowboy (5.9 sport)
Pat's Crack (5.9 trad)
Peaceful Warrior (5.6 sport)
Hakuana Matata (5.10b sport)
Sinsemilla (5.10c trad).
Probably the most sport climbing I've done at Vantage and now I remember why. I suck at sport climbing! If I can't jam in it, I can't climb it!
Kurt has some pictures of this and previous trips here -- I went on all but one of them (the ER weekend I had to bail on climbing plans).

Stupid Forecast is raining on my parade!

2008-03-04T21:09:00.002-06:00

So I've been planning on heading out to Smith Rock to climb this coming weekend -- getting kinda tired of Vantage. But wouldn't you know the forecast is predicting beautiful sunny weather all over Washington and Oregon all week and then Friday evening the clouds roll in bringing dreaded rain/snow with them. I'm tempted to break out the snowboard, but my doctors have given me strict orders not to. So I guess it's time to start praying to the weather gods! Can't the rain wait until Monday?

Vantage again!

2008-03-03T03:50:00.003-06:00

After my ankle decided that I had to cancel climbing plans last weekend to go to the ER instead, I was determined to get some Eastern Washington Sun this weekend. So I rounded up some climbing friends and off I went to Vantage. We did all the classic Vantage trad climbs: Party in Your Pants, Pony Keg, Air Guitar, George and Martha (and some top-ropped Red M&Ms, but my ankle wasn't feeling up to it) as well as some random sport climbs that I can't remember the names of. All in all, a good day. And when I got home, I took a few too many ibuprofen . My ankle is the size of a softball, but it was worth it.

Vantage

2008-02-18T18:19:00.005-06:00

Seattle got unseasonably beautiful sunny and warm weather for the weekend, so I rounded up some friends and we headed out to Vantage to do some climbing on Sunday. I was worried about the hike in and out, but I actually managed pretty well. I made it up a few trad routs and a sport route. I had a hard time with the cracks since I can't really jam with my left foot, but there's nothing better than climbing in the sunshine in February. Since I went out in a group of 4, we didn't take many pictures, but Kurt managed to get a couple shots of me climbing while he was belaying from above. 1 2

Walkin' on Sunshine!

2008-02-16T19:30:00.001-06:00

Actually, running in sunshine would be more accurate, but no one ever sang a song about that so it's not as catchy. The past couple days have been warm and sunny and I took full advantage of the weather today. I decided to see how my ankle would hold up to a jog. I ran the whole way around Greenlake!! I managed a slow but steady pace -- I didn't have to stop to walk even once and averaged 10-11 minute miles. Not bad for a gimp, eh? After that, I took my REI gift card (birthday present from the parents) and bought a shiny new #2 to replace the OP link cam that was sold on e-bay. All in preparation for climbing at Vantage tomorrow. That's right folks, this is my last boring post to this blog for a while -- check back soon for a genuine trip report complete with pictures! :)

Climbing [plastic] rocks!

2008-02-02T01:37:00.000-06:00

So I made it out to the climbing gym again tonight and I actually did much better than I did last week! I climbed several 5.8's (I cheated on some holds for my left foot, but I figure I deserve that small handicap). Half of the climbs were overhanging which I struggled with even before I broke my ankle, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I also climbed both of the crack climbs in the gym (using face holds for my left foot) and met a bunch of very cool new climbing partners! :) And then finished off the night getting to know all of my new friends over beers (and everyone who knows me knows that one beer is one too many for me!).

Earlier today, I had an amazing enlightening conversation with Danielle. But I'll post more about that tomorrow. I know some people's beer goggles make people of the opposite gender more attractive ... but the only thing beer makes attractive to me is my bed. Right now my new silk comforter is looking downright sexy! So more tomorrow when I'm thinking a bit more clearly. :)

Happy days are here again! Weeeeeeee!

If the shoe fits ...

2008-01-29T13:29:00.000-06:00

I wore high heals today for the first time since my accident. I'm still walking funny, but I can manage in the heels and I'm so happy that I can walk in them at all!! And speaking of shoes, I donned my rock shoes for the first time last week at the gym. I'll have to ease back into climbing slowly since my foot is still not very flexible nor very strong, but I managed to get up a 5.7. It's been a long hard road and it feels so good to really believe I'm going to have my life back at some point! Hurray for high heels! :)

Sunshine!!

2008-01-22T16:03:00.000-06:00

I spent last weekend in San Diego licking some recent wounds in the care of my family. I took some long but slow walks along the beach and nearby river with my parents and I was also able to visit with the Dormans. Sam and Zoe are growing up so fast, but they are as beautiful as ever. I was able to spend Saturday night with them while Patrick and Danielle went to a birthday party on ( click here to see a pic) and then Danielle and I spent some time together in my parents hot tube by the ocean taking in San Diego in all it's glory. And wouldn't you know, the San Diego sun followed me home!! :)

I can walk!

2007-12-19T21:23:00.000-06:00

Well ... almost. I was given the okay to put all of my weight on my foot a week and a half ago, but I wasn't able to until today. I've been using one crutch to get around and I've been taking my doctor's advice and trying to walk around as much as possible which leave my foot in a painful throbbing mess at the end of the day. But it's starting to pay off as today I finally walked down the hallway by myself with no crutches and without leaning on the walls. I still won't try to walk unsupported with no walls nearby as I'm still not very stable, but it's progress so for now, I'll take what I can get. I'm finally able to shower standing up which means no more chair in the bathtub!

I'm still really disappointed at my range of motion. It's getting better, but when I'm standing on my hurt foot, I can barley bend my knee at all -- which will make snowboarding and skiing in the future very difficult if it doesn't improve. I also still can't point my toe very far and I really hope wearing high heals someday isn't totally out of the question.

I can hardly remember what my life was like before this happened and it's hard to imagine a future where I can not only walk, but also climb, dance, snowboard, and do yoga. Through all of this I have realized that I am a very physical person and when I can't use my body to do the things I enjoy, I get very very depressed. I feel like I'm not even me anymore. I obviously won't be teaching yoga this upcoming quarter, but I'm hoping by spring, I might be able to. It's kind of depressing to look at the archives of this blog -- back when I used to use it to document my frequent climbing trips. I miss my life! The doc said I should be able to resume my normal activities by summer ... I probably won't be back to leading 5.10 cracks in Squamish by then, but at least I'll be back on the rock.

Since I haven't been able to get out much, lately I've been making use of Ira's DVD collection. You gotta love a guy who has the whole last season of Sex and the City on DVD! And although I love the show, it's making me sad. I don't normally blog about personal things, but since thinking is the only activity I can do as of late, I suppose I'll break that rule. I'm not exactly the most private person anyway. I've made a lot of incredible loyal friends over the past few months and I think I have the most wonderful supportive boyfriend in the world. But I miss my old friends and my old life and it's becoming so apparent that things will never be the same. During the last episode of SATC, Charlotte went to visit Maranda all the way out in Brooklyn. I wonder how realistic that show is. Do girls from Manhattan really drive over the Brooklyn bridge to visit old friends? Do women really retain friendships over many years, countless relationships, breakups, motherhood, marriages, and even re-locations? I got dumped, started a new relationship, broke my ankle, and moved to the suburbs with my boyfriend. It was a lot to have change at once and I thought my friends would support me through that, but I guess that was unrealistic. I thought Matt and I could both maintain our friendships with everyone, but I can't walk, and I live farther away, so he really is the natural choice when they have to chose one of us to come to a party. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when phone calls and emails go unreturned and no one can ever make the 30 min trip out here. I really shouldn't complain, the friends that have come to cheer me up and visit with me are truly amazing, and I am grateful. I guess I just miss my old life and with this new year approaching, I'm accepting that my life will never be the same and getting a little nostalgic in the process. I wouldn't give up anything I have now to have what I had before. Still, it's sad.

Front Row Seats!

2007-12-01T15:40:00.001-06:00

It's snowing!! Today is the first (and perhaps only since it is Seattle after all) snow storm of the year. And I have front row seats. I'm still kind of bummed that Ira has just run off to the rock gym to meet up with friends and climb and I'm stuck here in bed. But I think I'll make my self some hot chocolate and enjoy the view from the bedroom window to try and cheer up. Make that cinnamon hot chocolate -- 'tis the season.

Banff Mountin Film Festival

2007-11-30T14:53:00.000-06:00

I attended the Banff Film Festival last night with some friends. Anne, being one of my most on the ball friends, suggest a group of us get together for the show. Tickets were on sale over a month ago and I was hoping I would be able to walk by now so I agreed to go. However, it turns out, I'm still in crutches. It was a bit difficult getting there with the limited parking options downtown so Ira gave me a piggy back ride down hill for a few blocks and then we took our time going back up the hill to the car. Navigating through the crowd to our seats was tricky and a bit stressful, but once we finally found our seats, it was all worth it. Some of the videos were not so great, but there was a kite boarding video that was fabulous, a really fun mountain bike trails video that was fun to watch, and my favorite video was the base jumping film. Don't worry mom and dad -- I won't be trying base jumping any time soon! And of course it was great to see all of my friends!

Finally!

2007-11-28T18:22:00.000-06:00

I went back to my doctor today. It's about 3 months after the original injury (I can't believe I haven't put any weight at all on my left foot for over 3 months!!) and this appointment was where I'd find out if I was allowed to start any weight bearing and the progression I would take. I was very nervous that he would either say that I shouldn't start yet or that it would take months of putting a little bit of weight on it and I would still need the crutches for a few more months. But I finally got some good news. I was instructed to use a bathroom scale and start putting about 25 lbs on my foot as often as is comfortable. After a week of that, I can increase it to 50 lbs, and after one week of that, I can start trying to put all my weight on it. He said the best thing for recovery after that is walking and to try to build up to 2 hour walks every other day or so, but to make sure I start slow. So the first day maybe a 10 minute walk and then a couple days later bump it up to 15. After a month or two, I should be able to walk for 2 hours at a time every other day or so. I can't wait -- after being pretty much bed-ridden for 3 months, I just want to walk forever! I'm sure Callie will love taking long walks with me. He also said I should be back to normal as far as my foot is concerned by summer time. Then it'll just need to loose all the weight I've gained and the build back the muscle I've lost from being inactive for so long. I'm still frustrated that this process is taking so long, but I'm relieved to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T18:18:00.001-06:00

The original plan was to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving and either San Diego or South America for Christmas. But after I broke my ankle plans changed. Ira and I decided traveling for Thanksgiving with me on crutches and a broken foot would be a nightmare so we stayed in Seattle for Thanksgiving. So my parents, both having the whole week off, decided to fly up here to visit us! They came in late Monday night and on Tuesday were able to come to work with me to help me empty my mailbox (those book reps keep giving me heavy text books!) Ira had a stressful day at work on Tuesday, and I was nervous about my first physical therapy appointment the next day, so we all relaxed with a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers and other yummy snacks. Wednesday, my parents accompanied my to my PT appointment. The physical therapist was pretty optimistic about my potential recovery, but the exercises he gave me to do every 2-3 hours are pretty painful! :( Thursday, we had a very Seattle Thanksgiving. We slept in, hung out around the house, played lots of card games and then started making dinner. We had cedar planked Salmon (best way I've ever cooked salmon -- highly recommended), mashed potatoes, crab legs, a salad, asparagus, and of course pumpkin pie! After dinner, we all went to see Beowulf which was fun, but not all that impressive. I don't know how we all had room, but somehow after all that Thanksgiving food, we were all hungry for breakfast the next morning so we headed to the Kosy Country Cafe and then back home for more cards, lounging, and movies (and some nice long walks that I had to opt out of). Saturday morning, I made a pancake breakfast for everyone and then we took my parents back to the airport. All in all, it was a nice visit, though not being able to do anything active was a bit frustrating for me. Hopefully, I'll be able to start putting weight on my foot soon.

Still broken ...

2007-10-29T23:13:00.000-05:00

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so I decied to take some new pictures of my broken ankle to share before the doc makes any changes. For a description of the current condition of my ankle and some kinda ugly pictures, (though not as ugly as the previous ones) click here.

Fires in Southern California

2007-10-23T17:33:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to take my eyes of the news about Southern California. Having grown up in Poway , most of my friends from high school still have family that live there. I haven't been able to get in touch with everyone yet, but I've already learned some of my childhood friends' parents' houses have burned down. My parents have a lot of friends in the area as well that had to evacuate and I'm still waiting to hear about the status of their homes. Luckily, it looks like my parents place in Solana Beach is safe since it's right on the coast, but they evacuated anyway because of the poor air quality and are staying with Jessica and David in their apartment downtown (Little Italy) until it clears up. IIt sounds like things are pretty bad down there, but at least my family is safe. I can't believe that half a million people have been evacuated including the entire city I grew up in! Cal State San Marcos (where I went to college) was also threatened by the fire, but it looks like they were able to keep it contained to the hills behind the school. To all of my friends out there, I'll be thinking of you as you start heading back to your neighborhoods and homes.

For more updates on the fires, click here and to see pictures, click here.

Healing?

2007-10-05T16:30:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog, I never intended to use it as an online journal and I don't usually post very personal things on here. This blog was created to keep track of my adventures. But since my accident, daily activities are difficult and time-consuming and since I can barely move my foot and can't put any weight on it, adventures are out of the question. I haven't seen any of my friends since the surgery. I've been doing some research since coming home from the hospital and although the doctors say there's a fair chance I'll be able to move my ankle, right now, I can only move it about an inch. Everything I've read about this kind of surgery says that 100% recovery is very unlikely. Most people have develop arthritis, only recover about 50% of their motion, and it never holds their weight quite the same way. Removing the pins in a year or so when it's finished healing might give me more motion back, but it would probably weaken the ankle and make re-injury more likely. Plus it would require another surgery. There are people who had fewer screws than I got that can't run 3 miles anymore. Hopefully, it's just a long recovery process, but I'm starting to fear that my life will never be the same.

Officially Off Bed-rest!!

2007-09-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

I finally went back into the hospital today to get my loose splint off, get my stitches removed, and to get a cast on so I can finally get off bed-rest! I have to say, almost month of not getting out of bed wasn't much fun! The pain sucked, but in the end, boredom was the worst of it. My ankle looked pretty gnarly when they removed the splint and bandages and it hurt more than I was expecting when they pulled the stitches out (12 stitches total for 4 separate incisions). And just for David, Ira took pictures (though I'd advice you not to click the link if you're at all squeamish). They wanted me to try to move my ankle, but I couldn't do more than wiggle it a little. They decided to give me a removable splint rather than a cast so I can start physical therapy right away. And I can finally bathe as well in a couple days! Which is quite a relief because sponge baths aren't really cutting it anymore! The doctor said I can start trying to put some weight on it in 4 weeks, so I guess I'll have to get pretty used to these crutches. I'm supposed to stay home and take it easy for one more week which is quite convenient because the quarter starts next Tuesday! I'm not looking forward to limping around campus on my crutches and I'll have to figure out a clever way to get materials to and from class, but I am very much looking forward to being able to leave the house (heck, I'm looking forward to being able to get out of bed on a daily basis!). I don't think I realized before this just how debilitating a broken ankle could be, but the doctor's say it's healing nicely and they are confident I will get back all of the mobility if I'm vigilant with physical therapy. I'll be happy when this whole ordeal is behind me!

Surgery Went Well

2007-09-05T20:50:00.000-05:00

I was very nervous to have surgery on Tuesday, but everything went very well. The worst part was having the IV put in and that's only because I have an illogical fear of needles. But Ira did a great job distracting me and keeping me calm and just as I was drifting off to sleep, he headed for work and left my mother with me in the hospital while they operated. I barely remember him leaving and then ... nothing.

I was woken up by pressure on my right arm -- a machine was taking my blood pressure every 5 minutes. The nurse saw me waking up and came over to answer all of my questions very patiently. I got to use a bed pan for the first time (though it was something I would become *very* used to in the few hours I was there after surgery -- apparently, they pump a lot of fluids in you through the IV!).

After slowly waking up in the recovery room, they took me back to my mom who informed me that the doctors had told her there wasn't as much damage to the cartilage as they thought and it is likely I will recover fully and have full range of motion in my ankle!! I can't tell you how relieved that made me! She also told me that Ira was on his way and he got there shortly after. My mom and Ira did a great job taking care of me, including making sure I got the nurse I liked and not the nasty one to take care of me. The surgeon even poked his head in at one point to make sure I was okay and to tell me that they did the bone graft and used 3 screws to fix my ankle. He said he made a lot of small incisions instead of one large one to take care of everything (so instead of one big ugly scar, I'll have a lot of little interesting ones! LOL). He also added a refill of the pain medication I'd been on before the surgery at my request because it had been working so well. I would highly recommend Dr. Atwater to anyone in the Seattle area that needs any kind of wrist or ankle surgery. He was not only a great surgeon, but also had wonderful bedside manner. I've heard some bad things about my HMO (Group Health), but I have to say, for the most part, I think all of my medical care through them has been exceptionally good! I have had a lot of very painful moments, but I seem to have gotten a handle on how to use my medication to manage the pain and it feels good to have my foot on correctly and not wrapped in a splint at an awkward angle anymore. The ride home was pretty uncomfortable, but we returned home to see a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Ira's parents waiting for me on the front porch. I am still in awe of how kind people are being to me through all of this!

It's very frustrating not to be able to do *anything* myself, but the wounds on my hands and wrists are healing nicely so I should at least be able to wash my hair and bathe myself soon. And as soon as I'm able (6-12 months), I'll be back on the rocks! Hopefully the on-sight of Flying Circus (5.10a finger crack) will be mine next summer!! And as requested by David, I'll try to get some pictures of the carnage (and healing process) up here soon! ;)

Back but Broken

2007-08-30T19:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from climbing in Squamish a couple weeks earlier than planned. On Tuesday Martha came up from Seattle to climb with me for a couple days. I'd been climbing *really* strong and was excited to see my friend and climb with her. We chose Sparrow -- a 7 pitch route to start her visit. We were going to swing pitches I took the first lead -- a run out 5.8 and I felt good on it. Martha led the next pitch (5.9), I moved the rope down a short 4th class down scramble and she took the next tricky pitch giving me a run-out 5.9 slab. I was a bit nervous and she offered to take the pitch, but I've been climbing strong lately and I thought it was time to stop handing off leads to my partners. So I took the lead. The first bolt was pretty far up and I had to traverse a bit to get to it. I was almost to the bolt and had over 20 feet of rope out when I fell and went sliding 40 feet down slab getting pretty banged up as I went. I remember knowing I was going to fall and yelling to Martha. I have no memory after that until I was passing Martha. I remember looking at at her frantically pulling in slack and then at the rope dancing all over the rock. My next thought was "Oh crap, my fingers are scrapping down the rock." Followed shortly after with the thought, "Why doesn't that hurt?" I actually felt fine when the rope finally caught me because of all of the adrenalin, but my fingers were completely bloody since I stupidly kept them on the rock the whole way down. I also had some nasty scrapes on my wrists arms and legs. And my ankle hurt a little. Once the adrenaline wore off, my ankle hurt more and more and soon I couldn't put any weight on it at all. But I still thought it was just a nasty sprain.

Martha got me down with just three lowers and she rapped down. The path getting to the bottom of the climb was rough though and we didn't know how we were going to get me out. Luckily Damien, a friend I'd met earlier in the summer and climbed with a couple times, was there about to get started on a route with a friend of his. Then one of the guys on Squamish search and rescue, Chris, showed up with his son (the kid was about 13 and he was going to take him on his first mulit-pitch route). Chris found a route that went up to the ledge we were on and rapped down with me attached to him. Difficult for him and painful to me, but I made it down. The other guys and Martha were there to carry me the rest of the way to the car. We went straight to the emergency room in Squamish where they cleaned out my cuts (this was by far the most painful part of the whole ordeal), gave me some morpheme for the pain, and took ex-rays. Turned out I had a really nasty break in my ankle requiring surgery. I didn't want to pay for it out of pocket since I'm not sure what my insurance covers in Canada, so I paid almost $800 for the emergency room care and ex-rays (ouch -- hopefully my insurance will reimburse me for at least some of it!) and left my truck up there so Martha could drive me to the emergency room in Seattle.

We got there around 11 pm and they took more ex-rays, had me fill out some paperwork and set me up for an appointment the next day with the orthopedic doctor. We finally left after 1 in the morning. Ira is out of town in Sacramento for business, so Martha took me back to her house and then back the hospital the next day so the bone doctor could look at me. Apparently I have an unusual break so several doctors looked at my ankle and ex-rays before they called in a surgeon who specializes in broken ankles and wrists. They said it's likely that I will lose 30% mobility in my ankle after it's all healed. At that point I broke down and started crying. I can handle pain and recovery time, but the idea of permanent damage -- especially damage that is likely to affect my climbing -- is heart breaking! With physical therapy, I may recover completely, but they said it's unlikely that I will recover 100%. :( Time will tell I suppose.

They scheduled my surgery for Tuesday and Ira is planning on taking the day off to get me there and back safely. Apparently my ankle bone broke off and smashed through cartilage and the bone above. They have to put that bone back where it belongs, do a bone graft, put some pins in, and then hope the cartilage heals itself. They gave me Vicodin for the pain which worked great, but wore off about 2 hours before I was supposed to take more. So I called and they prescribed Percocet for me, which my wonderful, kind, and loyal friend Martha went to pick up from the pharmacy for me. She took me to Ira's house and I'm here now waiting for him to get back from his trip this evening. I'll probably have to stay here and let my amazing boyfriend take care of me for a few weeks. The Percocet is working great and I'm comfortable, but I'm not very mobile and still upset at the prospect of losing some mobility in my ankle and nervous about my upcoming surgery. And of course a little bummed that my trip was cut short for this reason, but at least I had a great couple months of climbing before this happened! I was able to lead 3 5.10a cracks and Flying Circus will be there next year.

Throughout this whole thing I've been so impressed with how kind everyone has been. I feel so lucky to have met such helpful competent climbers in Squamish, to have good health insurance with skilled and gentle doctors, and especially such amazing loyal friends in Seattle, such a supportive concerned family, and such a caring and loving boyfriend.

I love Squamish!

2007-08-26T00:05:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I had a chance to post here. I've been having the time of my life up here this summer!! After Elsa's wedding, I stayed in Seattle a bit longer than planned and then headed back up with Ira. He took a week and a half off work to come climb and hang out with me. The weather wasn't the best that week though, but we still managed to get in a bit of climbing. Since we had his dog with us, we exhausted the bluffs, but we managed to get in a couple multi-pitch routes (a link up at The Bullet Heads and St. Vitus Dance) while friends at the campground watched Callie.
After he left, I took a few rest days and then my friend Doug decided it was time for me to lead The Zip -- my first 5.10 lead. And I did it!! Just in time too because after that it rained for a couple days.
My birthday was the first of many sunny days. I went climbing with Ashley from Ontario and I led 7 pitches including a 5.9 (forgot the name, but it was at Octupus Gardens in the Shade -- I'll add the name later) and a 5.10 (Nubile Woman). Then went to celebrate with some friends with 1/2 price pizza night at the Howe Sound Brewery. Yum!
The next day, I headed up to the base of the Grand Wall and top roped a few climbs back there. (First 2 pitches of Peasant's Route and first pitch of Rutabega)
Wednesday I did Rock On with Ian -- I led the first two as well as the last pitch (all 5.8) and he led the third and fourth pitch (5.9 and 5.10b). I think that's still my favorite route on the Chief so far.
Thursday, I went back to the grand wall and got another 10a lead under my belt -- the first pitch of Exasperator -- *very* fun climb!! I also top-roped a few more new routes in that area.

I haven't taken many pictures this summer, but I'll add what I do have when I get back to Seattle -- sometime in September ...

Elsa's Wedding!!

2007-07-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

Wow, I had such a blast at Elsa's wedding. I think I'd forgotten what amazing friends I had in high school. What ever possessed me to lose touch with so many wonderful people? That is surely something I'll have to remedy now that I have everyone's updated contact info!
And of course it was wonderful to catch up with Elsa and then watch her completely beaming at both the ceremony and reception. I honestly didn't think it was possible, but I think marrying Travis has made Elsa's smile even more beautiful. Click here to see some pictures from the wedding -- no doubt more will be added.

I spent a couple days longer than planned lingering in Seattle, getting re-organized, relaxing, and spending time with Ira, but I'm Squamish bound soon!

Back in the Sates for Elsa's wedding

2007-07-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

I volunteered to take tickets for the Mountain Festival movie on Monday night -- which meant I got in for free. The first movie they showed was "Wings on Their Feet" -- a skiing movie that made me think about taking up skiing again. But then they showed "First Ascent" -- the new movie by Sender Films. And all thoughts of skiing were wiped clean from my mind -- nothing gets me like climbing! The movie was very well done too -- I'd recommend it highly to anyone. Obviously I was most interested in the battle between Sonnie Trotter and Didier to send The Cobra -- it was strange seeing the Squamish campsite on that film, it felt like someone had brought a video camera into my living room! LOL. According to the guys from Utah that I was camping with, there are two types of people in this world: those that cry when they see Didier limp out from behind the tree with crutches obviously having to give up on his first ascent of The Cobra that season ... and those that laugh. I'll be honest, I got a little chocked up!
And although I'm not at all interested in climbing in The Black Canyon, I still added a quote from that part of the movie to my collection: "You’ve either got the spirit or you don’t. And if you’ve got the spirit, you fucking rock. And if you don’t … you’re a sport climber!" -Conrad Anker

I was all pumped up after watching the movie, so I hung out with friends at camp and Doug offered to give me a belay on The Zip the next morning. I was so psyched, but I woke up the next morning to rain! Doug and I ran out there anyway hoping the tree cover would have kept the route dry from the light morning rain, but it was already wet when we got there. So I decided to save it for another day and head to Seattle a day early. Ira and I will fly to San Diego tomorrow for Elsa's wedding and then back on Monday. I'll probably head back up to Squamish on Tuesday and then The Zip is all mine!!! :)

Heaven

2007-07-16T16:56:00.000-05:00

I am happier here in Squamish than I can ever remember being. I didn't do any climbing on Friday -- took a rest day, hung out at Murin Lake, read, listened to my ipod, swam in the lake, and waited for Ira to get here. He arrived at 2 and we hung out for the rest of the afternoon, I introduced him to some of the people I've met, and we enjoyed the beautiful weather.
Saturday I took an aid climbig clinic, did my first aid lead (Kangaroo Corner at the bluffs) and also practiced jugging up the ropes and cleaning gear on a practically horizontal traverse. I really learned a lot and had a great time. Ira roped up with Doug and did Calculus Crack (multi-pitch 5.8) in the morning and then we met up and went back to Murrin Park together for another chill afternoon. Sunday, Ira took the advanced aid clinic and I took the women's crack climbing clinic. I already knew most of what was taught, but I signed up for the clinic to meet other women to climb with and I wasn't disapointed in that respect. I had a really fun day. And I did manage to get in a mock lead of Nubile Woman (5.10a) and had Jasmine check my gear -- all good. So if I can find someone to hold the other end of my rope, I think I'm going to try to lead The Zip (5.10a finger/hand crack) tomorrow! Then on Wednesday, it's back to Seattle to prep for my flight to SD for Elsa's wedding this weekend!!

A Full Fun Day at The Bluffs

2007-07-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

I met up with Pat and Damian today for some more climbing. I'm still tired from Rock On yesterday and am planning on doing either Snake or St. Vitus Dance tomorrow so I decided to give all of the leads to the boys today. Since it was another hot day (though not as hot as yesterday) and we got a fairly late start, we headed toward Mosquito again as it is shady. We did the whole Smoke Bluffs Connection this time (didn't stop at Flemmish Dance). I got Jaberwocky clean while removing gear. I still wouldn't be able to lead it, but I'm starting to see how it could be done. Maybe by the end of the summer. We finished that link-up by doing White Rabbit -- a short but hard 5.10b finger-tip crack. After that, we headed over to The Zip (10b finger/thin hands crack) to finish the day. I got that clean as well, and when I'm ready to start leading, I think that would be a good first 10 gear lead. Since we were cragging as a group of 3, the camera was finally put to good use today. As soon as I have access to my lap-top, I'll post the pictures.

Pat and Damian headed off to do some more climbs at the base of The Grand Wall and I headed to the library to check emails -- and put up another post here of course. Martha and Jess should get here sometime tonight and then Ira is coming up tomorrow. :)

The first of many posts from Squamish

2007-07-11T20:52:00.000-05:00

So I've been here since Friday and I've been having such an awesome time!! Ira drove up to spend the weekend with me and we took it pretty easy. We went to the Bluffs on Saturday and did the first 2 pitches of the Smoke Bluffs connection (Mosquito and Flemmish Dance). He led both. Then we set up a top rope on the 5.10 next to Mosquito and I was really happy with how I climbed that and how good I felt on it. We went over to do Penny Lane, but Ira's second piece blew out and he decked. The rope slowed him down, but I still thought it would be a good idea to call it a day. So we went for an early dinner at the Howe Sound Brew Pub and it was great food as usual!

Sunday, Ira was still feeling a little stiff, so we decided to go hiking instead of climbing. We hiked to the third (and highest) peak of the Chief (I'll try to post some pictures when I get a chance). It was a really fun hike -- one I'll likely do again on a rest day. We hung out for a while, and then I bid Ira good-bye (until next weekend) and settled in for the night.

Monday morning, I disovered that my neighbor was a really cool girl named Ann so we decided to move my tent over to her campground and split the cost of camping for the week while she's here. She injured her finger before coming out so she can't climb. We decided to hike together and went to the second peak of the chief. Though it isn't as high, I actually thought it was a more interesting hike than the third peak. We spent some time (several hours actually) laying in the sun and chatting up there and it was dinner time by the time we were back in camp. On the hike we discovered that we're both going to be at Climb For Life in September, and were excited that we'll be able to hang out again. :)

Tuesday, I headed back to the Bluffs with Scott. We did the Smoke Bluffs connection again, but this time I led it! :) Again, we set up a top-rope on the 10b next to Mosquito and after climbing it twice clean, I'm thinking about leading it ... we'll see. After those 3 climbs, we were getting *really* hot (highs in the 90's!) so we left the Bluffs and did a couple of climbs at Shannon Falls. I love that area and it's perfect when everything else is too hot in the afternoon.

Today I met up with Brian and Dave -- very competent climbers and really cool guys to boot! They took me up Rock On which is my favorite multi-pitch on The Chief so far. Brian had his camera, so I'm hoping I'll get those pictures to post here, but for now a brief description will have to do. The first 2 pitches are 5.8 and I think I may try to lead one or both of them next time. The 3rd pitch was a short 5.9. It was really fun, but I thought pretty hard and I was proud of myself for getting it clean. The next pitch was the crux and also the highlight. A 5.10 (a or b, I can't remember). It was about 50 feet long, started with a few bouldery moves and then went into a finger-crack dihedral. AWESOME climbing. After that it widended out a bit and went into some sketchy chimney moves to the top. What an awesome pitch! We finished with an short and easy pitch (5.7 or 5.8 depending which guide book you look at). Steller route -- deserves every star it gets and then some!

After that I headed to the rec center for the first shower of the trip. I opted to use the pool too and swam laps for about 1/2 hour. Felt good to stretch and use my muscles in a different way and left me feeling nice and exhausted. And a shower after 6 days felt pretty lovely as well.

Now I'm headed back to the campground to hang out with Ann before she leaves to go back to Texas tomorrow. I'll be climbing with Pat tomorrow and Friday. I'm hoping to get on more of the multi-pitch classics for at least one of those days. Then *hopefully* my amazing wonderful awesome man will be coming back to hang out for the weekend -- and maybe some other friends from Seattle as well. Stay tuned for more updates and hopefully eventually pictures! :)

Leavenworth and Smith

2007-07-04T14:52:00.000-05:00

I still haven’t made it up to Squamish! The weather up there has been wet and rainy lately so I went to Leavenworth with Ira and Dave. I led Seven Seas and tr’d some mixed 9’s and 10’s Ira put up. Then I spent a day back in Seattle packing up for Smith.
I drove down to Smith on Sunday and spent Monday and Tuesday climbing there with Erik. We had a great time weekday climbing with no crowds! I think I led almost all of the single pitch classic 7 and 8 sport routes on Monday. Then on Tuesday, we headed down to the Gorge to escape the heat and do some trad climbing. We ended up at Shakespeare Cliff. I tr'd a bunch of cracks that Erik and some new friends that we met led in the Gorge on Tuesday. Ira and I are going to a roof-top bbq to watch fireworks this evening and I’ll probably take a couple days to re-organize and then I’ll finally be on my way to the Squamish!! :)

Mosquitoes at Index

2007-06-27T12:15:00.000-05:00

After Ira and Anne got off work yesterday, we all headed to Index. We only had time for one climb, so Ira put up Godzilla (again!). I was actually surprised that I didn't have too many problems with it after not climbing at all in almost 3 weeks! The only bad part about the evening -- there were mosquitos *everywhere*!! I've counted 17 bites on me so far. I am convinced that if it were a fight to the death between the real Godzilla and a swarm of mosquitoes, the bugs would win!

Climb for Life

2007-06-20T18:36:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be participating in Climb for Life in Salt Lake this year. It's a charity organization through HERA that raises money for ovarian cancer. I need to raise $100 for ovarian research and treatment in order to participate. Click here If you'd like to help me out by donating money to the cause.

Bangs!!

2007-06-13T23:42:00.000-05:00

I bet you thought that since I'm too busy to climb that I wouldn't be posting huh? So I was sitting at home grading papers and suddenly I decided I needed bangs. I can get pretty impulsive when I'm stressed, so I grabbed my brush and a pair of scissors and a few minutes later - bangs!! Click here to see some pics of me with my new do! :)

Offwidth isn't just big cracks!

2007-06-12T20:36:00.001-05:00

So, I didn't go climbing last weekend. And I'll be really busy grading all week and then really busy packing up my apartment and putting things in storage this weekend. And I'm flying to Chicago on the 18th and then back the following Saturday and I'll need time to buy a tent and other last-minute things for my summer adventures. So it looks like I won't be climbing for three whole weeks!! I'm going through withdraws. Which of course means I'm procrastinating on all the grading I have to do by drooling over guidebooks and articles about climbing. I found a really great instructional article about thin off-width cracks by Steph Davis. (Click here to read it.) I think this is more my style of off-width climbing if only because of the pro you need -- all that big gear is not only too heavy, but also too expensive!

Leavenworth Rock Fest

2007-06-03T17:28:00.001-05:00

Anne and I headed out to Leavenworth to meet up with Ira, Steve, and Liz for another weekend of climbing. It was pretty hot, but we got in some good climbs, refreshed our memory in self-rescue, and enjoyed some free food, got some free stuff, and saw Katie Brown's slideshow. Click here for a trip report and links to my friends' pictures.