CHECK IT OUT!!

Patagonia is one of Tommy's main sponsors, and they are doing some cool stuff!!

Log on to www.patagonia.com.

Click on the "video & music" tab.

Choose "video gallery" and scroll down to check out these videos:

Journey to Keketuohai (or click here)
and
Climbing in Keketuohai (or click here)

Then...after checking out the videos on our China trip, go back up to the "video & music" tab and click on "Patagonia Music".  View the different "categories" on the left and listen to some great music while you browse the website or do your other internet stuff.  Buy benefit tracks or albums and help the environment!

Had to share...pretty cool!  Images and update from Hueco to come.

Hueco Tanks...

I tried to count up the years since i have been to Hueco Tanks this morning. 12..13..14.. I lost count. The last time I was there overhanging climbing was a relatively new discovery, there were basically no climbing regulations, and I didn't have any chest hair (shoot, I still don't). I am super psyched to get back there and get after it. After a month of skiing, home remodeling, and gym climbing, I am feeling pretty strong. I hope to build some finger strength and callus for the El Cap Proj as well as have a nice relaxing climbing trip with my wife. No portaledges, crazy logistical strategizing, or big hikes with sole crushing loads. Just pure pulling on crimpers in the sun! Heck yeah, bring on the bloody fingertips!

Almost Finished!!

The kitchen has come a LONNNGGG way from the last photos I posted.  It is looking better than I thought, and I'm really excited.  We are just waiting on hardware for the cabinets, countertops (our friend is making concrete countertops for us), and we need to do the flooring. It's amazing how a few items make the kitchen look really nice....almost too nice for us!  I am excited though, and really enjoying having the house mostly back together!  Yay!

Painting.

Some cabinets in.

Installing this hood was a nightmare!!  We had to get one though because we didn't want to do cabinets and a microwave on this wall in an effort to keep things open between the kitchen and living room.  It works though!

Mostly final product...just need different flooring, countertops, and cabinet hardware!  I love that we switched from an electric range to a gas range too.  Definitely prefer that for cooking.

A glimpse at the living room....more work to be done there at some point!!  

Remodeling...

Tommy and I bought a house last year, and when we were figuring out finance stuff we made sure to leave some buffer room for some remodeling that we wanted to do.  We loved the location of the house (views of the Diamond on Long's Peak and our backyard is adjacent to National Park land) and the fact that it could be a single house or a duplex made it even better.  It had water solar panels on top to help with utility bills, and was really just what we were looking for when it came to big things.  The interior, however, needed a little work.  With traveling the past 6 months straight, we still managed to get a lot of remodeling done, but now since we are home we are really getting after it.  Tommy has remodeled a cabin that he had bought by saving money during his dirtbag days, and then built a house in Yosemite, so he has acquired the necessary skills to do most of the remodeling that we have want to do. 

Currently our big project is the kitchen.  That was the one thing when we were looking at the house that I really wanted to change.  I love cooking and spending time in the kitchen, and I feel that its the place where people tend to congregate.  We knocked down a stairwell into the basement and covered it up to open up the kitchen and the living room.  We ordered cabinets for that area to make it more usable, but of course, then there was part plywood on the floor and no matching cabinets throughout the kitchen, and no countertops on the new peninsula cabinets.  When we came home from Argentina we knew it was time to get things done.  We agreed that we would work on the kitchen first because it would be the most work, and make the biggest difference, and it was the most in pieces.  First we needed to put in new lighting in the "breakfast nook" while the cabinets were being made for the kitchen.  We figured this would be a quick job, but it resulted in us mudding the whole room to get rid of the textured walls and re-dry walling the ceiling (and of course putting in new lighting).  We got a call less than a week ago that our cabinets for the kitchen were coming a week early, which meant we had a lot of work to do.  The house was built in 1935 and has had many facelifts throughout its life....which means for a lot of surprises when you are fixing things up.  Everything we have attempted to do has ended up taking 5 times the time it should.  We opened up one part of the wall that needed to come down to find a junction box.  Things were put together unevenly, and it seemed like a lot of short cuts had been taken.  We have had our work cut out.  However, with Tommy's skills and my ability to help and pick up on things relatively well we are making progress and I have a lot of hope that it will work out.  The pieces are coming together and the other day the cabinets were dropped off and are stacked high to the ceiling, waiting to be installed!

Here's a lot of documentation of our construction projects since we've owned the house!  Sometime soon there might be a finished picture of the kitchen!

The wall between the kitchen and the living room.  Notice the paneling on the walls.

The stairway to the basement, and we are ripping this down!

Making progress.  Oops, Tommy cut a wire that went to the light in the breakfast nook!

And the wall is down!!  And a hole in the floor!  (The basement stairs)

Covered up the basement stairs...now to close up the ceiling and that back wall.

Careful with those tools Tommy!!  Don't want to lose any more body parts!

Painted walls (mostly)...making progress.

Look at the walls...no paneling!  Now it's painted drywall.  Yea!

TC cutting into the ceiling into the "breakfast nook" to make recessed lighting.

The holes don't look so promising.

Oops...that one got a little too big!

Tearing down the corner shelves.

The "breakfast nook" under construction.

Mudding all the walls to get rid of the texture and make them smooth.

We re-drywalled the ceiling to get rid of the ceiling texture.  Tommy mudding up the seams.

Making progress...ceiling looks good!

The finished "breakfast nook"!

Beginning to shift things for the big kitchen remodel.

Taking down the cabinets and everything else.

The back pantry area.

Ripping down the back splash tile.

Redoing electrical stuff...

One of the many surprises we find when we rip things down...a junction box!

And awkward ceiling support = ceiling almost caving in!!  Notice the crack across the drywall and the support to the right?  Tommy reinforced the structure.

Thinking about the mess and what to do.

Screwing on the drywall.

New cabinets waiting to be installed!!

CHAOS!!

Progress...or something like that.

All of the different flooring we have going on...there is one missing (weird wood floor looking linoleum).

I MADE THE COVER!!!

Ok...so "I" didn't make the cover...Tommy did....but it's my photo!!  Very excited about my first cover shot, which is La Sportiva's catalog for Fall 2011!  I also got a spread in the back!

 

Because...

So...because married to the man I am married to...because he has El Cap dialed....because I am turning 25 in May (quarter of a century..heyy)...and just because I want to, I have set a lofty goal for myself.  My big bad birthday goal this year is to "mostly free" a route on El Capitan.  Currently Tommy and I have decided on the Salathe, but it's not 100% decided.  When I say "mostly free", I mean free climb as much as I can, and if I need to, I will pull on gear.  Depending on where my climbing abilities are at that time, if I need to I will have foot sling things and jumars, but I'd rather avoid using the jumars if possible.  I have been avoiding writing about this because I knew if I posted it that I was committed.  :)  I know it's going to be really physically and emotionally demanding to accomplish, but I'm really excited to work hard toward the goal!!!  It's also going to be fun to see another side of El Capitan, and since I have the wall logistics relatively well worked out, why not try to climb?!  I've been getting a lot of great advice from other friends who have climbed, which even though Tommy is the master, he's also on his own level with things....so having input from "normal" people regarding the climb has been awesome...sobering, really.  I know I'm still a little ways out from May, but I feel like I'm still pretty far behind.  If anyone has any training tips or things to think about...I'm open!!

My general planning schedule is this:
Currently - focus on power via bouldering.  Mid February = trip to Hueco Tanks.
After Hueco - focus on endurance.  Route climbing wherever I can get it...in the gym, but outside as much as possible.  Late March = trip to Red River Gorge, and sometime a trip to Indian Creek.
April - Phase in to long days of multi-sports.  Run/bike/routes/boulder/weights...whatever.  Wear myself out!!

May 6th is my birthday and at some point during that day we will be on the wall!!  I hope things work out!!!

Skinning up....great cardio!

Taking off the "skins" before heading back down.

TC kickin' up some snow.

Me, shredding down the slope.  Yeah braw!

"WU TANG!!!" - This one is for Hayden Kennedy!

"Training" at Tommy's parents' garage.

Trying to stay on the wall!

TC crushing as usual.  :)

My other little training gym!  I watch climbing movies to stay psyched while I cycle.  Ha.

Blog Reflections...

This whole blog idea sounded like a fun thing to do to keep friends and family up to date on our travels and what is going on in life since it has been "go-go-go" since our wedding.  The ability to archive our travels was appealing and so we thought, "yeah, we should do it".  Needless to say, Tommy is a busy man and "our" effort quickly became "my" effort (which I don't mind, but have hope).  He loves to write, but it takes him a while to get his writing done.  He's good at it...I suppose that's why.  I obviously have looked at this in a different way...not super concerned with my writing skills and just going with it (if that's good or bad..I'm not sure).  When I started writing about Tommy's progress of his project on El Cap, I had NO idea that this would be linked all over the place and read around the world.  Finding that out was intimidating.  I didn't know how personal to be...I felt like I had to "perform" in a sense, which quickly transformed things a little bit.  I was worried about what people were going to think of what I wrote, and make judgements about me, etc.  I got nervous about writing and got a little bit lost with the whole thing.  Starting a blog and putting information into cyber-space means it's there for all to read...I guess I just never thought anyone would find it.

In my efforts to think a little bit more about this blog thing, I've decided not to fret about it or overanalyze things and just write like I started...to my friends and family.  I will no longer worry about the evil climbing forum-commenters (which I was out of the loop and didn't realize existed) and just do my thing.  For whatever it's worth, it feels good to get that off of my chest.  

A Visit from Lynds...

I got a call from Lynds the other day that said she was coming to Denver with an organization that she volunteers with, Wings of Hope.  She is a nurse and volunteers as a medic on these small flights that base out of St. Louis.  She flew in to Denver and was going to be transporting someone the next day.  It was great to catch up over dinner, and the next morning have the chance to check out the plane, meet the pilots and learn more about what she does!

Cute uniform.

View from the hangar.

The plane!