What I've been doing...

We got 125 Days of snowboarding in this last season '08-'09, and it was amazing! Every bit of it; even through the holiday season when I was working every night for over 14 Days in a row as well as snowboarding everyday. It kicked my butt a few times and I had to stuck it up. Over the spring we did a bit a traveling. Road tripin' it out to the mid-west. Feel free to check out my facebook albums of everything we've done.

I have done a few mountains bike races this season. I have beat all my previous set records (not that they were amazing)! My best one was Berry Creek. I was not at the very bottom of the list and I dropped 10mins off my time. Steep climb and decent short course, 4 miles in under 37 mins. Short & sweet!

We went to California for the fourth! Hung out at the beach, saw the SF MOMA, and the top of Herzog & de Meuron, de Young Museum. Saw the golden gate & ate at the oldest sourdough place in SF Boudins, also ate at my favoriate resturant The Steps of Rome. YUM! My brother proposed to Marcie on the top of her birthday hike at Pinnacles. It was all very exciting. We also had a Happy 30th Birthday party for Marcie. CONGRATS to my brother & Marcie!!

Summer is here now in the Vail Valley and I only have two mountain bike races left this season. I might not get to do this weeks because I was camping and hurt myself pretty bad by jumping off of a 60' cliff into the river completely wrong. I was doing fine if it was 50' cliff, but the last 10' my body shifted to almost parallel to the surface of the water.

To say the least I have to worst bruise of my life. I cannot sit or walk very well. I am hoping it heals enough so that I can race on Wednesday. But right now it is worse than that picture. It is swollen and much darker and filled in, OUCH!
EPIC FAIL!!!!

But I will have to say it was Incredibly invigorating & fun (just with and big oops at the end)!

Things are good!

I am sitting here enjoying a rich dark beer. As I look through the beer at the mountains it seems like a dream. The outlines of each majestic hill filtered through a haze of red bubbles. I really couldn’t ask for anything better than I have right now!

About 2 ½ months ago I was laid off of my job that I got right after graduation. This was a little bit of a blow to my ego. I felt like I have always had it somewhat together. Then finding out that I am unemployed really seems weird, BUT things were looking up. There were new opportunities that were all open for the taking. I was elected on the board of directors for my local professional organization here in Vail. I hit the ground running. I had an interview with a firm, finished my resume & portfolio done, and contacted 20 firms in less than a week. Then less than a week later the market crashed. No one was hiring. People don’t start new architecture projects when the economy is struggling. They even put projects on hold when things are as bad as they are. My firm was unable to take the blow as they were already feeling the economic squeeze before the crash. Everyone went to hourly and two of us were laid off.

Two weeks after I was laid off my husband, Curtis, was one of a few in his office that were laid off.

What do you do when you don’t have savings and no job and there is no outlook for any job anytime soon? Good question. I had not learned that part of Architecture in school. I thought I had learned everything there. Well I learned a lot there, and one thing is to make the most of what you have.

We didn’t want to leave the Vail Valley as we are just getting used to the life style here. We let our landlords know our situation, and they were more than awesome!!! We were given many tasks to complete before the big snow came to work off rent. Now we have 6 months that we can wait the economy out.

Yesterday we found out that my past firm, Morter Architects, had to close up shop. They laid off everyone and are moving the company to their home in Austin. This really messes with our possibilities of getting a job out here this next summer. So where should we go next? Where do you go after Vail?

So all said I am really happy right now… Curtis and I have had so much time together. It is so wonderful to really just be together. We have our whole lives in front of us. It is really going to be hard to start working again when it comes to that time though. I could get used to the ski bum life. Although I do miss architecture!!

Anyone want to come visit me…? We could go skiing!

Things.

Music.

My new favorite signer is Duffy. She is huge right now, but I got her album, Rockferry and it is awesome. I recommend it.

We are going to an outdoor concert on Friday. New York Philharmonic playing: Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, & Sibelius. It should be great. I haven’t been to one yet that is at the Ford amphitheater. I am told that everyone bring picnics and make it a social event. Should be fun!! Plus my firm designed the amphitheater.

Races.

My mountain bike races are pretty much over my head. But they are fun and I enjoy the challenge. My first goal for each race is to FINISH. Then my second goal is to not be very last. These goals sound pathetic but they are for real. I have to put all I have in these races to reach one or both of these goals. Last year I only beat one racer a guy at Davos. Davos is the worst race; really steep and only up, and a lot of people puke. This year I cut off 9mins on that race. And I beat two girls. This was huge for me.

My race yesterday, Camp Hale, was pretty hard and I thought I was going to get sick (I wasn’t the only one). That map on the link isn't very accurate profile, notice the only 400ft hight (usually it is a thousand or more). It was 11 miles and I pushed it hard.

I finished! YAY… And I beat at least one girl, I really tried hard for the "not last"; I was in pain. I know there were three others that I passed but they might not have finished. Either way I reached both of my goals, then I helped mow the yard after. I am still sore. This is the first time my calves hurt the next day.

Camping.

We went camping a few weeks ago. It had been a while since I have been, but when I was little we would go all the time. So it was look being a kid again. We hiked all around our site. We found a waterfall. Not just a little waterfall but fairly substantial. It was FREEZING. We were somewhere at about 9 to 10,000ft. Snow runoff. We even got the see the moon rise I don’t think I have ever seen that before. The moon seems to be up all day, but it came up from behind a ridge almost full. It was beautiful. I love camping. Next time I am bringing my bike. Here are a few pictures of the camp out. For more.

A little note for those drivers out there!

I just wanted to say that I think 75% of drivers don’t care about the rest of the drivers. Here are a few things I am concerned with and faced with almost every time I am driving.

1. Pay attention. I know everyone does it; being lazy or multi tasking. BUT IT IS UNACCEPTABLE. There are kids, bikes, other cars, & many more obstacles that are needing you to pay attention.

2. Stay in your lane. Don’t just slide over like no one in the world is driving around you. I can’t express enough the amount of times I am in a roundabout when someone just comes right over into my lane and cuts me off & potentially runs into me. That is my number one pet peeve.

3. Stay in the right lane UNLESS PASSING! This one thing that most people don’t care about. BUT IT IS THE LAW when you are on the freeway. The other part of this law in most places is to not go under 55 in the left lane (expectation for traffic). PLEASE don’t sit in the left lane people are trying to pass in that lane. Again pay attention.

4. If you are on an entrance ramp to a Freeway (or whatever you want to call it), please accelerate. If you are going 40 and trying to merge that is unacceptable. Let’s refer to point 1. Pay attention you are about to get on a very fast road; if you can’t handle it get out the way.

That’s all… Just wanted to say something because it seems that no one cares anymore that they are in a car and it is not a right.