black swan tiara February 13, 2012

I ended up wearing kind of a ballerina costume to coco and v7′s wedding last month. Merrick got a few amazing shots…

There isn't one of me standing, but the dress (loaner from Barbaracoa) was dark green with a rushed top, tulip sort of skirt and POCKETS! I felt quite gorgeous :>) Hey Blaine!

ok I'm sure I've already told you about this, but I got this amazing armlet custom made to fit my enormous biceps by a local Hanalei jewlery maker named Toni. She doesn't have the internet, but she's got a stand at the farmers market. I've been looking for one of these for years, but they're all too small or totally mannish. My upper arm measured almost 12 inches!

tiara

 

Thank Merrickales!!

the thing about stuff September 20, 2011

I’ve done semi-annual “get rid of everything” things all my life. Mom called it “the great dump” and we did it twice a year when I was a kid, to par down the toys collection. But it’s always been about, ya know, removing the excess, giving away the pilled out sweaters and annoying shorts that never quite made it into rotation, and the last of the awesome set of pint glasses that you will never ever find again since bodum doesn’t make them anymore at least not in their bodum for Target line. But when I got to Austin on Thursday night I started the biggest, maybe second biggest, purging of belongings ever.

The biggest one was when my parents moved from where I grew up – an enormous 6 bedroom house – to a small condo. They took what they wanted and left me in charge of having an estate/garage sale of the rest. That was an emotionally charged experience of course. This one was probably smaller in volume, but harder. Because starting on Thursday I had to unload stuff that I love, currently love and would be in heavy rotation if I were in the proper climate, or would be decorating and functioning in my kitchen if I had one. This is the stuff that I adore and consider the material representation of my tastes and values.

It was kind of awesome. I’d pack a bag for BuffEx, get there, take three things out that I couldn’t part with yet, only to sell them to PlatoClo the next day. I’ve gotten a handful of cash for some things, goodwilled some, and made these packages for anyone I could think of who might enjoy some stuff. That’s been the funnest part, going through my favorite things and deciding who’s taste they may suit. I realized that yoga Matt might rock a vintage Southwestern Bell Telephone vest, and Sara Saylorking and Heather got some of my very coolest dresses and bathing suits. So I’m vagabond santa this week, and it’s been the proverbial spoonful/sugar. Of course the sweetest thing is that I’m heading to the Southeast on Saturday for 2 months, with the TripleCrown Bouldering Series, November in the Red, and lots of people to visit and play with!

In the meantime, I’m on a strict acquisitions diet. But I have seen some very cool things that I would have totally bought, were I not going ultralight in life…

Marimekko for anthropologie cotton tank at BuffEx. Amazing, and with that scooped, narrow bustline that I've only ever seen before on the Verve sports bras.

Ann Taylor Loft color block cotton tank. Holy moly I have been dreaming of this color combination and proportion for many years. Not right now though, my darling. It's just...I can't. Go! Leave my sight! Your beauty is like stabbing! Also at BuffEx.

The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin on vinyl at Half Price in Rice Village (H-town). Even though I sold most of my records and my turntable in a previous purging session, this might be a reaosn to dive in again. Maybe it's on iTunes? Ugh, I know. No, I know I know.

Novelty book about dealing with boyfriends/overgrown hysterical whining toddlers. I didn't actually want to get this, as I cannot relate to this problem

sweetness mission in wowtown September 1, 2011

As a blogger, it is my responsibility to post annually about the picking of berries and the subsequent making of jam. Lovely photographs should be included, but they will never be as pretty as whatever designsponge has going on on this issue (good sweet corn god).

SO off we went, wearing rain boots for better thorn-stomping, to pick blackberries at this suh-weet spot along the train tracks behind a closed down fast food place and a dump full of stolen purses and blackened spoons. Squamish is so epically ghetto at certain intersections.

But once you're in the grove it's very pretty

Blackberry bushes are like huge thorned attackers, groping at you from every side, pulling your hair, tearing at your clothes. It’s like attempted gang rape, blackberry picking is. But with my rainboots I got through it.

jcrew via airport blvd goodwill $2!!

Several betas I learned for blackberry picking:

It’s only sweet if it falls off with a gentle pinch. Any picking force means bitter blackberries.

The best best best blackberries are the ones that are the only fat black berry in a cluster of green or barely red ones. They’ve been hogging the resources.

It’s super sad when you go to pinch one and the rustling causes an obviously more ripe one to fall into thorny oblivion.

Also, the great blackberry trail may cross private property. But since we’re not in Texas….

oh (come on) canada

Here’s the haul:

vat-o-berries

Does that look like a lot? Here’s another one with some relative-size comparisonication:

it was this big

We ate a bunch, froze a bunch more, kept some to eat tomorrow, then there was the jammin.

sweet bubbly

with ice cream wowtown

repreZent July 18, 2011

Thanks for coming out to the dyno contest! It was the perfect way to spend another drizzler!

EMA competed, too, which was great since I learned a lot about dynoing from him last year on the Walrus. He was the shortest – and only non-lurp – guy in the top 6. He got 5th, and I think he was the only one who knew how to dyno. The rest of the field was littered with lurp action. Although the guy who eventually won was a total animal. And so was the girl who won. I got 2nd, and I think my highest dyno was like 1.8 meters. Thrilling. The girl who won wound up beating the Squamish record and punted just shy of meeting the world record. For dynoing on a woody in public. This is our sport. I’ve never done a climbing thing in front of people before, but as Australian David observed I had no trouble getting comfortable with the attention. Here’s a few of the official contest pics. More to come from Lotti…

a solid showing all around by the bteam

I love the girl cheering on the left. that's me on the wall btw

i won a swanky arcteryx jacket and one of those red mini pad bags, which I traded with one of the guys for a $150 fiveten gift card, which does not cover a pair of shoes. So I won the opportunity to give fiveten $20. I think I'll get the Yosemite Jeans. YAY!

fairness May 27, 2011

After a super relaxed and soothing lake day with Louis on Sunday, I caught the last few hours of the Renegade Craft Fair, which DeeDee had alerted me to woo hoo! Knew that girl was a find. I had a blast wandering around racks of perfect, soft t-shirts and dresses with cute things on them, and teacups I had to restrain myself from. Because I am not in the market for more breakable tea cups a week out from a possibly endless trip. I’m not. But I bought possibly the most perfect pair of earrings I’ve ever seen, and I practically haven’t taken them off since. My face is annoying me right now, but here they are:

like a dream of earrings come true. Also, note the evidence of packing! allllllmmmoooooost done!

They’re from Early Jewelry. I love some of her other stuff, especially this Rrring.

and speaking of Rabers, my brother is having a baby within the next week! First of our family. I have never actually wanted to be in England before now.

I also got a really funny sock monkey from Tara George.

It's like this but with funnier eyes and brown. Technically it's a gift for a young friend, but I'm gonna go ahead and infuse it with love for a while first. It's only right, right?

There was this one booth at the fair I was in love with, but it was out of my price range for the day. It’s called Fernworks and it’s my Gawd. Look at these…

click on any of these to see the shop page

Like so many things at the Renegade Craft Fair, they have a touch of ‘put a bird on it’ going on, but in this case I was charmed — so to speak.

There was also this painting, which I saw at La Patisserie a few weeks ago while scarfing macaroons and tea. It reminds me of the Alot from Hyperbole and a half, and half because of that and half just because, I like it a lot.

click to see the artist's page. and oh mai goodness it sold! Yay!

Dresses May 3, 2011

I’ve been going to weddings all season, and more to come yay! I am surrounded, on all sides, by people who are in love and growing their families. It’s great. Here is what I’ve been wearing and doing with my hair. I know, you’ve been waiting for me to get to this.

Katie and Ian

My sister Katie picked out these silk red dresses for her bridesmaids. Mine was a low halter and full skirt, and I loved it! That’s Maggie behind me in her pink Maid-o-Honor dress, and Charlie the flower girl at the end.

It has pockets!

For my hair, I showed the hairdresser this picture of Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line.

she nailed it, I think

For Katie’s rehersal dinner, I wore this black and white bias-cut number with a sort of abstract lizard pattern. I got it in Cape Cod with Lily in probably 2006.

I think my stance is kind of odd here, and I'm not loving how the dress hangs. But it feels good. The bias-cut fabric hugs me, and I feel more curvacious than usual in it.

Here’s my hair knot from the rehearsal dinner, and these little blue earings.

And here’s the black dress and boots combo I wore for the pre-wedding barn party.

Maggie and I sang "Goin to the Chapel"

So that’s the royal Raber wedding.

Rachel and Phil

Rachel and Phil’s wedding was a social climbers event, and full of fun people and memories. I’ve known Rachel a long time and seeing she and Phil meet and fall into each other has been glorious. I wore this cotton, also halter, puff dress from Anthropologie circa 2008.  The same week I bought it I saw an unattractive blond walking down the drag in it with a backpack and sneakers. I cringed to look at it in my closet after that, but I guess enough time has passed by now, because it FINALLY felt right.

Stripes collide! I love my loooong ponytail and big hoop earrings, but this image makes me wish I'd worn heels. by BevDemShu

Here's the color scheme, with my dance partner Liam Oliver, hanging on for his life.

This was an adorable event full of people I’ve known since I first started climbing in 2006. We’ve grown up so much since we were 25-ish, and there were SO many babies.

There have been a few more events, but I don’t have pics yet, and this post has been too long already. Yay, dresses! Ya know, I wish it was socially acceptable to have a dress library, where you could go get a dress, wear it, maybe buy it if you were obsessed or just bring it back after your event. Because I can’t wear any of these dresses to events with the same people again. But I bought them all pretty pricily, and would be hesitant to just get rid of them for good. I want, omg, I GOT it. I want a friend-dress library, among a small, controlled group. A dress co-op. You own all the dresses, WE own all the dresses. Gonna work on this….

endlessness March 28, 2011

I got this shirt on my NYC trip last month. If you can’t tell, it’s the Endless Summer movie poster retooled for bouldering. I kind of love it, and I think it’s arbitrary enough so that half the people who would think it was kind of stupid (which 30% of me does) won’t digest it quick enough to notice. If there were ever a sentiment I wanted to promote it would be adventuresome bouldering outings, surf media consumption, and soft gray t-shirt wearing.

Here’s the original…

west side problems, shorter than before March 25, 2011

I’ve been looking for a car in earnest for over a month now, and I can’t find anything. I’ve opened by mind and bank account and I think I have reasonable goals — air conditioning, Subaru,Honda, or Toyota, wagon, suv or minivan, 150k or less. I’ve been to see a few, talked to some folks, it has not come together yet. I think a part of me doesn’t want to get rid of the Trooper. With the nice cloudy and kinda cool snap, I think I might stop looking for now.

So this is a good time to explain my possible summer plan, because it relates to the car question. I’m committed to gymnastics through the first week of June, then I’m gonna pack it in in Austin, again, and spend a month in Flagstaff. It’s going to be so much fun. So much bouldering. Then, Lotti invited me to do a bouldering, sports action, AND learn more trad circuit for the rest of the season up in Squamish. So that seems quite possible. In between, I want to spend a few weeks in Encinitas/San Diego, to longboard more more more and check out Black Mountain. So, how bad am I going to want an air conditioner on that trip? I really don’t know. Is the answer obvious and I’m just missing it or being naive or something?

Ok, the other thing is I got a tax refund (whoopy!) and I want to get my own longboard. I got to demo a few in Galveston this weekend, and had a blast. I rode a nice local shapers’ model, and found the waves were super fun and mellow, if a little disorganized the first day. I was worried I wouldn’t even be able to catch anything or stand up at all on a shorter (8 foot!) board, but I actually got a couple nice rides! The drop in is not scary at all there, and I got up and cruised around pretty easily. So psyched for more.

I was at soundwaves picking through their kind of enormous selection and….

The freaking Kassia roxy board I rode and loved in Hanalei. Dammit. Although my accountant is awesome, he didn’t win me enough to cover such unexpected luxury opportunity girl boardism.

Ug. Not sure you can read that, but it’s $freakingpricey. Ugh. Ok, to buy this board online from Surftech is $unreasonable, so I’m almost relieved. I had a long talk with mr soundwaves, about how much I liked it and if there was a cheaper, similarly sized board around. He showed me a few other “girls” boards, but they were as fat as all the others and heavy, just painted pink. I want the Kassia board.

So I headed south to demo the local board and at least get in the water, and on my way swung by another of soundwaves’ 3 locations. They had the Kassia too, for way cheaper! But still a bit out of my reach. They have this special deal where if you go on a Saturday morning you get a big discount. I might be able to swing it. But on the other hand, and same as with the trooper, now that I have the money and opportunity to get something I’ve been wanting for a long time, I’m wondering if this is the right time to bother. I can keep demoing and renting for the year, and keep an eye out for Kassia on ebay or something, or look for something else in California, AND not have to worry about shlepping it around this summer. Even though I kind of totally want to.

So yeah, wah wah wah I can’t find the exact toys I want and even if I can find them I can’t decide if I really want them anyway. So sad.

i got a fever! no, a real fever March 19, 2011

I had a rough first day home today. I woke up with a stomach ache and it hasn’t gone away yet. Pretty sure I have a fever also, ugh. I tried to be productive but wound up spending the day wandering around this upscale mall in north Austin. It was comforting, because upscale malls remind me of my sisters and mom, and I found a few cute things and some very expensive makeup. Yeah, I’m basically Paris Hilton. Then I went to a class with Yoga Matt, which was lovely, but I still don’t feel well. Feeling pretty discouraged on the car finding front, too. I’m searching for a Subaru or a 4runner with under 180k on it, with an air conditioner, age isn’t that important, and i can spend $3500. I see a lot of almosts. A trip to Colorado next month, or a scheme to acquire more money for the project may be necessary.

Tomorrow I’ll hopefully feel and perform a little better. Stoked to get back to gymnastics on Monday, then take a trip to the coast to look at cars and play in the ocean. I think there’s a gentle, large-ish swell on Wed/Thurs. Itching to cruise around again. Here’s a lovely video.