Adaptive Schralping

Anne and I headed back up to Truckee this past weekend to volunteer with Disabled Sports USA. We have to be there pretty early in the morning when we go so we are usually driving up west shore as the sun was coming up. This weekend the view at Emerald Bay was absolutely unbelievable and like I'd never witnessed before: water like glass, colors sprawling across the sky, and Mt. Tallac perfectly mirrored in the lake.







We arrived at Alpine Meadows that morning to find that our lessons had been canceled and that we were going to take a clinic on sit down skis. Since I was the smallest person in the group, I spent most of the morning strapped into the bi ski being loaded on and off the lift and skiing down the hill.













It was really conveniently timed training as my afternoon lesson rode in a bi-ski. Anne and I had such an amazing time we can't wait to go back for more lessons on Wednesday and Thursday.

That evening, we stayed in Truckee and had an amazing dinner at the Drunken Monkey, which had some of the best sushi I've eaten in Tahoe, and then spent the rest of the night watching the shenanigans of a Santa Claus pub crawl over a bottle of wine at Bar of America.



The next day Anne was volunteering so I spent it exploring Alpine Meadows. Alpine is a killer mountain. They have HUGE bowls to play in (and a ton of them) and fantastic grooming, which is perfect for a day like yesterday: no new snow and lots of packed powder. From the top of Summit Chair you can see Lake Tahoe in the distance and cruise down 1,800 feet of vertical.





The night before we had met a guy from the Bay at the bar and I exchanged numbers with him and spent a few hours doing laps with him off Summit before heading back over to the office to meet Anne for lunch and warm up a bit. I had some time to kill so I spent a few runs trying to teach myself to ride switch (back foot forward) and completely ripped the side of my snowboard open on a particularly nasty fall. Now I have to buy a new board and fast!

There were no lessons that afternoon so Anne and I spent the rest of the day taking fast laps in all of Alpine's bowls. So great!





That night Aaron came to pick up Andypants. He comes back to stay for another week next Sunday. I nursed my whiplash with some beer, Lake Tahoe Pizza Co and a viewing of the Hangover for the second time this weekend. The fun continues!

Andypants

Aaron is visiting his family in Texas this week, so I have been entrusted with the new love of his life: Andy aka Andypants. Andypants is a 16 week old Australian Shepherd and he is seriously the cutest thing on the face of the planet. He is so cute it's almost obscene. He's so cute that even when you are running around in circles trying to get him to sit still for five minutes while you eat breakfast, it's more hysterical than annoying.



Sierra likes Andy for about 10 minutes at a time. After that she's had enough and gives you this look as if to say, "Is he for real?" She then proceeds to just calmly lay there and stare at his antics. My house is like having a rambunctious two year old hang out with a crotchety geriatric lady. This morning Andy leapt onto my lap while I was trying to eat my omelet, grabbed my napkin in his teeth, flew over the back of the couch seat into the kitchen (not afraid) and proceeded to shake it as if making a gigantic conquest over the inanimate object. I let him keep it. Sierra watched.

Focus on fun!

Every day of my life for the past two months has essentially been the best day ever and it's amazing. I am loving it. Each day is better than the last! Tahoe, who I have frequently had a love/hate relationship with over the past three years, is high on my list of awesome. We are all having so much fun, doing such great things and meeting so many really terrific new people. Can you understand my excitement? It is unruly and cannot be contained! I am really really excited about EVERYTHING.

Things that have been the serious shinizzle lately:

Adaptive Shralping. Anne and I are volunteering with our local chapter of Disabled Sports USA and we are really excited about it. The program pairs trained instructors and volunteers with people with disabilities to help them lead an active lifestyle. We had two days of on hill training last week at Alpine Meadows and are headed back up to volunteer next weekend. I want to really utilize their staff and all the free clinics they offer their volunteers. For example, they'll help me become a better skier and train me to be an certified adaptive ski instructor, which is fantastic. I'm also looking forward to trading in those volunteer hours for days of skiing at Alpine.

Snow! First day at Kirkwood!



My friend Holly and I played hooky from work Wednesday afternoon and went out to Kirkwood. It was post our first big snowstorm last weekend so minimal terrain is open and stuff isn't quite filled in yet. We took a few runs in the choppy stuff and then headed to a groomer to give her knee a break. Since there was literally NO one there that day, we had the entire run to ourselves essentially and spent an hour having races down five. It was hysterical and I had a blast.

Tahoe Adventure Film Fest.



We had a killer time last night at the Tahoe Adventure Film Fest. EVERYONE was there. There was beer drinking, gambling, some great movies, and a lot of dancing. There were a lot of really terrible pictures taken. These are the best, which is not saying much!







This photo makes me laugh because R's eyes are totally shut, which they were in almost every picture and that guy in the green shirt that's smiling showed up in like 15 of our photos.







We had another HUGE snowstorm Friday through today and I switched shifts with Raina this weekend so that I could take advantage of the fresh snow this morning. After drinking and dancing, we finally get home at 2 am and then I'm wide awake at four am because it's as if it's Christmas morning and Santa brought me powder. Every ten minutes until 6 I was looking at the clock. Is it time? Is it time? Can I go?

I went out with Holly and her roommate and it was everything I was dreaming of. The snow was so unbelievable, Holly and I had amaaaaaazing first tracks off Chair 6 (totally worth the 20 minute wait!) and spent the rest of the day seeking powder in out of the way trees. By 2 pm I was wiped. I think we all fell asleep in the car and then again at home. I loved every minute of it.

Other things that are going to be the shinizzle: The Aspen Ski Party we're going to for New Years Eve (can you say boots with poms and fur?). Going to LA with Holly and Allison in Jan to see Vampire Weekend (and a taping of Conan!). Going to Portland with Sophie in Jan to hang with our friend Scott who will be at port there. Going to Vegas in early March to run a half marathon and climb at Red Rocks. Yeeesssss.

More snow more snow more snow! Bring it! I am really excited about winter this year. I finally figured out how to keep my injured foot from hurting on my snowboard and it's made all the difference in the world. I rode all day today and I never even noticed it. I have some new folks to ride with and I am really looking forward to pushing and challenging myself. There will be some mandatory jumping this year.

Is this all too much excitement for you? Then get outta my blog. Life is awesome! Let's do this!

Snowstorm

We had a HUGE storm roll into town yesterday and it dumped a ton of snow in town. Not only is there an insane amount of snow, the most that I can ever remember hitting this early in December since I moved here, but it's extremely cold and wet. Our ski resort is reporting 40 inches in the last 36 hours and we had almost two feet at my house.

The storm started yesterday in the mid-afternoon. Anne and I were actually up at Alpine Meadows, near Squaw/Truckee for some on hill training and ended up having to drive home as the storm rolled in and it was a bit sketch. The snow was coming down so thick that we had zero visibility and if it were not for that car leading the way, it might have been a much longer ride home. Aaron was driving home from Bishop, where it was also snowing, and I made him come stay the night at our house. It was really a selfish request as it meant Anne and I were able to play with Sierra's new buddy, Andy. Andy and Sierra are clearly going to be the best of buds. They were all frisky and playing in the snow last night and it tuckered them out.



The ski resorts aren't rolling all the lifts yet, but this should set us up well if we continue to get storms. Schools were closed so Anne and I took a snow day: we made pancakes and eggs this morning, drank a lot of coffee, watched some episodes of True Blood, and went to Steamers to drink beer and watch football. It was excellent.

I took Sierra out snowshoeing this afternoon in the meadow behind our house and it was over her head in some parts.













Sierra doesn't get as much exercise in the winter, time wise, but it works out okay because the snow wears her out so fast when it's this deep. She has to push it all forward with her chest, unless she bunny hops through it. End result: she spent the rest of the day holed up on her bed sleeping.

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow

Today, Anne, Nick, Sierra and I went to cut down a Christmas Tree. You buy a tree cutting permit for $10 and are given a map of where on forest service land it's okay to cut. We tromped around the snow a bit looking for the perfect one. Sierra was super excited about the entire process.





I've never gone to cut my own tree down before so this was a pretty exciting adventure on top of an already awesome day. It started out with a really great spin class, followed by an amazing breakfast. I have 2-for-1 coupons at our favorite joint, the Driftwood Cafe, so Aaron, Anne and I went and each had our own plate plus a loaded waffle to share. That is basically my idea of heaven.









The best part of the whole tree cutting experience were these killer pictures I got of Nick knocking it down.







We came home and decorated it right away.



I LOVE Christmas trees!

Sierra and Cowboy Get Down

Best Music of 2009

In keeping with Jason's list-making criteria for last year, here is this year's list of the best music of 2009. Not a lot going on this year. These lists are pretty small, but the best is all quality.

super awesome and by far my favorite

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
The Dead Weather - Horehound
The Dodos - Time to Die
Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Wilco - (The Album)

still pretty awesome

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Bob Schneider - Beautiful Creatures
Decemberists - Hazards of Love
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist
Yacht - See Mystery Lights
Iron and Wine - Around the Well
Passion Pit - Manners

kind of awesome

Beirut - March of the Zapotec / Holland
Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing

things that I like, but I cant decide what category of awesome its in

Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing

things that I haven't heard yet because my dog took all my money but one day after I buy a new snowboard I'll have a savings account again and will be able to hear if they are as awesome as everyone says they are

Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali
Lily Allen - It's not me, it's you
The Eels - Hombre Lobo
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Moby - Wait for Me
Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next
White Lies - To Lose my Life...
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

bands that I used to think were awesome when I was twelve that came out of the woodwork and released a new album that probably isn't awesome but I would like to hear it for nostalgic reasons anyways

Collective Soul - Rabbit

bands that the rest of the world think are awesome and they clearly are horrendous

award still goes to Mates of State, even though they didn't do anything this year. They still sucked.