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!!

there’s a will May 26, 2011

Will Rosshirt is my super dependable rides to-and-from the airport friend. He’s also always good for tools and random garagy materials. I don’t remember what he did to deserve this toil, but everytime I need to go to or from the airport, I can ask my closest friends, fake boyfriends, family, but it almost always comes down to Will Rosshirt. It’s a nice chance to peek into his life, and he’s always got something going on. Will is also a pretty amazing painter. Look at this shot Erik took of him recently with one of his pieces — he has a whole series of these large scale, weird curtain looking canvases with…is that like, plants?

by erik

Here’s one he did based on a photo Merrickales took. I LOVE this.

Seriously, right? You can peep his work and browse prints here.

party time April 29, 2011

Might have spoken too soon about climbing = over. We got a very quick low-80s snap, and Merrick and I grabbed one, maybe 2, last moments on our late-spring project at Reimers, Bloc Party. Today I felt amazing on it. it’s a weird, chossy at the bottom, glorious traverse of jugs, tweaker headwall situation. But the last 3 days we got out to it, Merrick and I have both been pumping out at a low crux, not making it to the end of the traverse. The classic screw up is to get to the headwall and fall a move or two into it for the pump.

Today, I finally got to there! Twice! It was so simple! Whorray for traditional flailure!

Here’s Zoolander John Garcia doing Bloc Party years ago, falling just about where I did. He rests and is precise and blah blah blah. I don’t look like this on it, but whatever. I FELL AT THE REAL CRUX!

We’re going back tomorrow morning to catch the end of this bliss, and THEN climbing in Austin in pretty much done for me I promise.

vocalage April 19, 2011

A few weeks ago I lost my voice like I never have before. Like, open my mouth to put forth words and — gahhsweeeh, nothing. I blame a combination of oak trees, constant gymnastic teaching, and a looong Pilates teacher training weekend where I intoned and lilted and projected constantly for four days.

Eventually I found a raspy super-whisper I could use for basic communication, and I’m still not fully recovered. It’s been interesting to have a totally different sound coming out of my mouth all the sudden. I started hearing everything as if I were listening to someone else. Luckily I liked the person I heard, for the most part ;=). It forced me to choose my words with freakish care, and I like to think I learned something about doing more with less, verbiage-wise.

Now I can talk with almost my full range, but it’s uncomfortable to project, and I spend all day sounding like I just got out of bed. Merrick said my new voice changed my personality, and made me seem (or be?) more sensitive and gentle. Then Gus pointed out that every time I spoke I sounded like I was on the brink of tears, which made him laugh. But both remarks hit home. Because come to mention it, between constant Pilates training sinking into my muscles changing the way I move, and this feminine meditation and spirituality course I’ve been working with changing my personal growth goals, I feel a bit different too.

pretty flowers

fruh fruh April 1, 2011

Went to Gus Fruh with Coco the other day. Trying to make the most of this glorious cloudy-cool snap we’ve been having, although it promises to warm up over the weekend. I don’t like the Fruh generally, because I feel like I’ve done what all I can do there, which is like 4 easy things, and everything else is a shut out. I only think that because I’ve never done the last loooong move on this otherwise very basic roof problem in the cave, hence I’m discouraged. But the other day I got on this random problem on the Whipping Post boulder for the first time. I have no idea if it has a name or anything, but this toothy crimp caught my eye and I was able to do it easily after Coco demonstrated. Here’s Merrick on the Whipping Post a few years ago. The new one I did is the second one he does, where he breaks a chossy foot (still fully functional).

In front of TV December 14, 2010

A great group of ATX boyz came out last week -  Vinny, Merrick, Cody Cox and TV. I had the typical blast climbing with them, and did a bunch of projects. It was Channukah, and I had several miracle sends come out of nowhere, after feeling pretty weak for my first couple weeks here. It was so fun to have those guys out during a peak in my own climbing. Mainly because I could keep up with them, and even peace them out on a cryptic warm up roof eliminate — pure Austin style.

TV took some lovely shots of the trip. Of course, here are the ones of me:

I never tried Jigsaw Puzzle last year, because despite the modest grade it's kind of intimidating.

I managed to get through it pretty fast though -- two short sessions, both with Merrick

This is my new and probably last project for this trip, Eckstein. It’s the perfect problem for me. A stout, butt-dragger traverse on slopers, a huge manly huck, some swing time, and a hard but fun crimpy low ball end section. I managed to do all the moves for the first time that day. But I think I went at it too hard, and now my wrist is tweaked. I’m going to rest until the end of the week, then go back and hopefully send when the weather cools off on Friday. To paraphrase Adam Ondra, it is a very nice looking problem, and it is also a very big number.

 

It was an awesome visit and a great Channukah in the desert with good friends, new and old.

Eat, Shlep, Amistad August 19, 2010

Toying with a title that plays on my shameless excitement over the movie Eat, Pray, Love, and my trips to Amistad. I know, I know, I don’t care, I love Julia Roberts and I relate to the story of the film so just back off. I spent three days climbing on the water with AO and Travis over last weekend. We took no pictures, but here is one from my last trip, which was an interpersonally and socially traumatizing experience I’m kind of trying to forget. But it’s a nice picture, by Merrick.

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Tall, scary, vertical, over the water, kinda the deal out there for me. This time I did a line I’d never tried before, a tall set of shallow red huecos on the 2010 wall. It was for the ffa which is super cool and all but really, with Jennie benched for gestation I don’t feel as excited about it.

Jennie at her wedding last winter

It was a very relaxed, glorious trip. I came back with many bug bites, and another 5.9+x fa called Peacock Lounge, downstream of the 2010 wall. It’s a short, 20 feet or so of easy slightly overhanging moves on sharp, huge holds, then a loooong low angle climb up these enormous, deep runnels. It’s not hard, but moving from the overhang into the runnels was scary and the whole thing was probably a bad idea, but it was super fun, but I think no one should probably bother doing it again. This was the conversation that preceeded it:

Me: Think I could rock climb that?

AO (fishing): No. Those big runnels? No.

Me: I think there’s a clean line into them right there.

AO (ignoring me, fishing): ….

Me: Hey the wind is taking us over there, that means god wants me to climb it.

Travis (fishing): The what wants the what?

Me: Take me over there to that choss. I’m going rock climbing.

(I climb all the way up and turn around, victorious)

Me: Should I jump?

AO: We should probably depth test it.

This trip I forgot lots of important stuff, like my chalk bag collection, my toothpaste, and a headlamp. I’m heading back on Friday for one last go before I head to Europe.  I’m gonna remember my mesh tent, my gas lantern, my headlamp, and all kinds of other stuff I completely spaced on. Pretty excited to do more climbing, hopefully my brain will still be in gear from last weekend, and I won’t need a day to get myself un-terrified. Maybe I’ll get to try some harder moves. Maybe even, god help me, a 5.10!

Mas Lake Para Mi August 8, 2010

Erik and Merrick and Capt. Bastard and pretty much all dudes don’t like this bathing suit. But most women, including myself, love it. It’s black, it’s modest, it makes me look curvy, and it doesn’t move weirdly while I’m climbing. Granted, it’s a bit conservative, and the black doesn’t make for those easy-to-compose “red shirt”photos, but oh well. Here’s more shots of me on Chuy, which I have now fallen off the top out of twice. Pretty lame, but it was a beautiful day/night out there anyway.

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All these pictures are by Erik Moore. Thanks for making me look so pretty and strong, even in my downright Victorian-era one-piece, Erik!

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Merrick got some pictures of he and Vinny a couple weeks ago out there, working on a different problem.

So that’s the boys.

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I worked on another line out there yesterday – the new, lower-water start to a warm up that I’ve finished a few times before. The new opening moves are sooooo much fun, big hard long stuff on jugs, but I kept falling at the link-point. I ignored Chuy all day and just took one run at the end, and fell in the middle. It’s cool. Capt. says I’ll send both of them after two days of rest. I think he was just trying out a whole “being sweet” thing, though. But I’m gonna try the rest and go thing anyway and focus on working, thrift shopping, Pilates, and rebuilding my itunes library after a dramatic hard drive meltdown (No thanks to HITACHI) until at least Monday.

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Which reminds me, I’m finishing up my teacher training apprenticeship now, teaching my friends at the Joy Moves studio. It’s scary and exciting. I hope they like it!