Thursday, January 26, 2012

Wisp Skiing/Snowboarding

Last weekend we drove out to Western Maryland for some snow time. John's friend Mike (and his wife and kids) met us there. I didn't actually get on the slopes. We're going to take lessons another weekend and I'll give it a whirl, but for the most part I avoid skiing b/c of my knee. Also there was an ice storm Friday night so the conditions on the mountain were not good. It would have been really hard to learn. John even had a rough time at first. I spent some time in the lodge reading and some time just watching John fall...I mean snowboard. I wanted to go snowshoeing, but there just wasn't enough snow and with ice on top it would have been silly. So John and I took a hike just in our boots. We didn't do anything hard or long, but it was still nice to be outside doing something. I'm sure if there ever is more snow I'll try snowshoeing and/or snowboarding. \

Wisp Resort...it was very overcast for 99% of the weekend.

Mike like's to make a grand entrance.

Skiing is hard.

Woo Anne!
Not falling actually. Getting ready to stand up and roll out.
Yep, snowboarding is kind of sexy.

Trying not to run into anyone.
Proof that I was outside in the snowy mountains...not usually a fan of winter.

North Face whores! Hey, it's good stuff.

Friends forever!

I have no idea. Am I falling? Is he falling? Did I stab him? It's hard to say.
Snowy hike!

Icy branches are beautiful.

This was empty. I don't know if that's good or bad. The bears were probably waiting for us to get trapped.
Deep Creek Lake

Deep Creek Lake

Deep Creek Lake

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

You buy books, I buy hiking/camping/climbing gear

I finally got my act together and published my book for sale for the Kindle!! I started months and months ago but whatever Amazon's system does majorly messed up the formatting. And for poetry I was not about to just let it be ugly. I was so frustrated that I gave up. I was fairly certain I was going to have to do something drastic like code the entire book in HTML in order to make it look right. It ended up not being that complicated, but it still took some time to get it to translate. But it's finally ready.

If you don't already have a hard copy, go buy it here! Note: If you don't have a kindle you can download the free kindle app so you can read the book on your computer.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

On Doctors...

For someone who's active (well, in the spring/summer), eats well (mostly), ect., I dread going to the doctor. No matter how well I take care of myself a trip to the doctor always results in something being found, more tests being needed, something. I'm not kidding. Remember when my cyst wasn't draining and I had to go in for extra ultrasounds? Yeah. It is, luckily, almost always nothing serious, but it's a hassle to always need blood work or other tests. And really not good if you worry about the results.

So I was having some issues and just wanted to get blood work done. Voluntarily! I was fairly certain I was just anemic but before I took iron supplements I wanted to be sure. Well, instead of anemia, the doc found a lump in my throat. This resulted in more blood work and an ultrasound. Good news is it's probably not cancer. Yet all the appts I've had the last 2 weeks I still have to go back in a few months and make sure it's not growing. If it is, or if I get funky blood work back with messed up hormone levels, I may need my thyroid removed. How fun!

So, I've decided to just not go to the doctor anymore.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Resolutions for 2012

I tend not to make resolutions. Seeing as I usually think life is pretty great, it seems silly to say "be kind" or "eat better". But there is something refreshing about looking back on the past year, celebrating what you accomplished, and thinking about what the next year will bring. So, here are some things I (or John and I) am hoping to accomplish in 2012 (yeah, some are kind of resolution-y, sue me).

1. Write more...I've not been inspired at all this last year and I'd like to finally get something accomplished. Even if that's just a simple article on a hike.

2. Be climbing 5.8s regularly. John thinks I should make my goal 5.9s since I already do 5.6s (mostly) clean and just did two 5.7s this week. But I'm being realistic. There's plenty of skills I need to develop in these higher climbs (hello crazy lunge I did Monday!) and I know 5.8 is more what I can accomplish.That's not to say i don't think I'll be doing some 5.9s by the end of the year, I just don't think I'll be doing them well.

3.Go on an overnight backpacking trip. We talked about this a lot last spring/summer and never actually did it. We stuck to day-hikes. So, it's time.

4. Stop buying bread, bagels, buns, ect. I don't know if I'll be able to make ALL my own bread products as sometimes I get lazy and just want to run to the store and buy hamburger buns. I do want to make a good effort though. I've already made 2 loaves! I love my bread machine :)

5. Try at least 3 new things (physical activity, food, hairstyle...whatever)...3 seems like a pretty low number for this, so hopefully I exceed the goal. But if I end up breaking my leg snowboarding (new thing #1!) and end up on crutches for months, I want to be able to still meet that goal. (go me and my optimism!) And I have recently done rock climbing and eaten Vegemite, so even though those happened at the end of 2011 I feel like it's part of the be adventurous goal, so I've gotten a head start.

6. Stop eating at chain restaurants. The only reason we do is that we're too lazy to cook or are on the road and not willing to drive a little longer to find something better. If we go out it should be to a good restaurant that's unique and appealing. there's no reason to eat at Applebees. It's really not good, wastes money, ect.

7. Summit a mountain. Maybe it's cheating since this is something I do just about every year, but here it is. It might be Old Rag again, which I know I can do. Or it'll be something wild like Mt. Rainer or Pike's Peak...depending on where we decide to go on vacation.

8. Activate Mission East Coast Exile. That means we'll either move to Colorado, at least actively make plans to make said move in the next few years, or decide to move elsewhere. As long as we get some better plans in place we don't actually have to leave yet, there's more to figure out still.

9. Raise a pig. And by this we're actually going to give John's uncle a pig to raise, but we're building the shelter, the pig, and all food.We'll take care of it when we visit, but Uncle Glen will do the daily grunt work. Or we may scrap the whole pig idea and just get chickens. But we want to do something farm-y.

10. Have a pig roast. This will likely be at John's sister's wedding. Which is pretty much the best idea for a wedding reception ever...other than my own ideas, anyway.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Year in Pictures

I'm still mulling over some 2012 resolutions/goals, so for now, here's 2011 summarized in pictures! It was a spectacular year, and looking back only makes me excited for the adventures 2012 is sure to bring.