2008 Year In LT

Time to reflect back on the past year of my life!

Albums (in no particular order)
MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
TV On The Radio, Dear Science
Kings of Leon, Only By The Night
Snow Patrol, A Hundred Million Suns
City and Colour, Bring Out Your Love
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
Rise Against, Appeal To Reason
Hot Chip, Made In The Dark
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Songs
Coldplay, "Viva La Vida" - I was OBSESSED with this song when it came out. I used to blast it from my computer at work and all my coworkers would get so annoyed with me. But damn, good song. And the iPod commercial that went along with it was superb.
Black Kids, "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Girlfriend How To Dance With You"
Cut Copy, "Lights and Music"
The Presets, "This Boy's In Love" - When I play this song really loud, it reminds me of being entranced in the 80's. They also remind me of Depeche Mode. Thanks to Chris Zachos for introducing them to me!
Thrice, "Moving Mountains" - What can I say, Thrice is great.
Weezer, "Heart Songs" - Listen to this song.
The Hold Steady, "Constructive Summer" - Cruising down PCH

Best Song Intro
Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Possess Your Heart"

Best Song Outro
T.I., "Whatever You Like"

Movies
The Dark Knight

Books
The Last Lecture - My friend Jon gave me this book for my birthday. It really left a mark with me and there were many takeaways from it on ways I want to make sure I live my life while I'm still alive and well. I highly recommend it. And thanks Jon for the awesome bday gift!

Live Shows
Weezer @ The Forum
Radiohead @ Hollywood Bowl
Oasis @ Staples Center
TV on the Radio @ Wiltern
T.I. @ Key Club
The Kooks@The Wiltern
Offspring @ Chain Reaction
Thrice @ Avalon

Websites
MySpace Music! myspace.com/music
Twitter

TV
LOST - I don't watch much TV, but I became obsessed with Lost this year. I watched a couple episodes with Michelle in San Diego and I was hooked. I rented the entire season 1 and watched it in 3 days. Then I watched seasons 2 and 3 until I was finally caught up with season 4.
Heroes - Once I had watched all of Lost, I dug into Heroes season 1. Then I heard season two was bad and I never got around to paying to this season on TV. Anyone recommend I get back into it?

Trips
This year my goal was to take one international trip, and I ended up taking two!
Aruba - My cousin won an all expense paid trip to Aruba through her work. Her husband couldn't go, so she took me. It ruled.

Costa Rica - One of the many places I've always wanted to go, but had never been. I went with a group of 10 friends (mainly from UCSD) over Thanksgiving. Pura Vida!

Mt Whitney - A lifelong goal of mine has been to hike to the top of Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the 48 states. This year, I finally did it. It may have snowed 4 feet the week before and I needed to wear crampons and use an ice axe to get to the summit, but I did it. It was one of the hardest 3 day journeys I've ever taken, but I'm so glad I did it. Check us out here at the top of the world:



I look at my life from three different perspectives that I always try to keep in alignment at any given time- my career, my personal life, and my health. This year, all three couldn't have been better. I've been working at MySpace for over 2 years now, moved to MySpace Music full-time, and it's still as exciting as ever.

And this year I truly followed my motto of working hard, but playing harder. Every other weekend this winter was spent in Mammoth. Who knew you could work a full-time job and still manage to ride between 20 and 30 days a year? Once summer hit, it was all about the beach. I spent nearly every weekend hanging out at the beach and surfing with friends. And I met a cute surfer boy :)

Another One of my goals this year had been to improve my overall health and fitness. I stopped running last year after a spree of ankle injuries and went on a hiatus for a while. And this year I got back into it. I ran numerous 5 and 10k's and completed the Nike women's half marathon this past October. I used to not have enough workout clothes, and now my drawer is overflowing with shirts I've gotten from all the runs I did this past year. I must say, it feels pretty good.



I know I've been lucky in life, and I'm very thankful for it. This year I decided to give back and get involved in the LA community by volunteering. Surfing is something that changed my life, so when thinking of how I could give back this was an obvious place to start. I spent every other Sunday this past summer volunteering for Boarding House Mentors. It's a program that teaches inner city kids how to surf. And it's amazing. I went there to help others learn, but I ended up learning a great deal myself. Funny how that works. I can't wait until the Boarding House Mentors snowboard season begins.



Overall, 2008 was a year of major personal development and goal setting for me. Between Mt Whitney, half marathons, international travel, weight loss and career goals, I set the bar high for myself and am proud to have accomplished what I set out to do this past year.

2008 - you have rounded out to be one amazing year. Now I toast to an even better and more amazing 2009. Pura vida!

LT

P.S. If you search through my blogs on MySpace, you can seen my year in reviews from 2006 and 2007 if you are interested :)

Storm Watch 2008

Living in LA can be a pain in the ass (aka traffic), but it can also be hilarious. Today's weather is a perfect example.

All it takes is a little sprinkle of precipitation in the air for the news channels to host special 10-15 minute segments on "Stormwatch 2008" as they track it's progress. I've lived in Southern California for the majority of my life and I still find this absolutely ridiculous. We get an inch of rain and all of a sudden there's mudslides, floodings, and people are lamenting to the news anchors about how they just can't wait for the storm to pass. It's just water, people! We get like 4 hours of rain a year! Enjoy it!

The other thing that is crazy to me about the rain is how all of a sudden people cannot drive. I mean, seriously, there is water on the ground and you are a bit more cautious. There is NO NEED to drop your speed from 35mph to 10mph.

When I was a kid and it rained, I used to love rainy day recess. I remember playing chinese jumprope under the overhangs next to my classroom and listen to the rain drop on the roof. But I don't have tons of rainy days memories because California is a desert! I love the rain because I don't experience it often. I also love it because rain in LA means snow in Mammoth. But I can almost guarantee you that if I lived in a rainy climate like Seattle, all it would take is a few days in a row of rain and I'd get depressed and want to move back to Ca. Either that or I'd move to the snow.

Halloween 2008

It all started back in August when someone at work told me I remind them of Tina Fey. At the time, I didn't even know who she was! But she was described to me as smart and sassy so I liked that. Anyway, then she became pretty well known for her infamous coverage of the election campaign. And well, that's when I decided on my Halloween costume:




The funny thing is when i walked down the street the first person to recognize me yelled, "Sarah, you're going down BITCH!"

And to that, I gave a long, goofy smile. The I replied, "I'm Tina Fey."

P.S. Check out my sweet brooch.

Time to blog again. Thoughts on Dodgeball.

I need to get back into blogging. I think the reason I stopped blogging is because I always felt writing a blog took too long. I think that's why I really started getting into twitter - I could just post random sentences at any time without having to string paragraphs together.

Over the past year I've been getting really into dodgeball. One of the things I love the most about dodgeball is that it's the one hour a week after work where I can do something random and silly and completely detach my mind from all things serious. It's all about just letting loose, and having fun. And there's no better cure for frustration after a long work day than to hit the crap out of someone with a dodgeball. Seriously, you should try it sometime.

This past season our dodgeball team took a more serious turn. Our team was so awesome that we won two championships in a row. And because of that, pressure began to build to have a three peat this season. We had a stigma to live up to, and many took it very seriously. It has now gotten to the point where dodgeball has become less about letting loose and having fun and all about winning. I mean, come on..it's dodgeball.

I am now debating on whether or not I want to continue playing dodgeball, or join another silly adult co-ed sport like kickball. I love my team and I enjoy dodgeball tons. But if I want to do a serious sport, I'll stick with running...

Eye of the Tiger

Over the past few years, I've learned where a lot of my drive and determination has come from in life. Aside from the learnings of my parents, a lot of it started in 2nd grade when I got my white belt and started taking taekwondo.

Taekwondo gave me focus and taught me how to set goals for myself. I had to test to achieve my next belt color and move through the rankings. And back then it wasn't easy. You had to work hard, even at 8 years old. I learned how to break wooden boards from Home Depot with my bare hand and foot. Our workouts were sometimes so hard I fainted. And if I did, I wasn't baby'ed. I was told to sit out for a minute, take deep breaths, and jump right back in. I worked hard to get good grades in school so I could display the "Academic Acheiver" patch on the right shoulder of my uniform with pride. As strong and fierce as I was in class, I had to learn to never practice my moves outside of the studio. And if I was late to class or misbehaved outside of the studio whether in school or with my parents, I was punished with either a knuckle sandwich or 25 push ups.

I remember how obsessed I was with becoming a black belt. The passing rate was 50%, and very few climbed the ranks of taekwondo long enough to even test for a black belt. In addition to physically preparing for the test, I had to write a 5 page essay on what taekwondo meant to me. I wish I still had a copy of this essay. Even back then, I had a lot of the same mentalities and values that I have now. It's very odd in a way, but not. I was 12 years old, one of the youngest kids in the studio to go for a high rank, and trained for an entire year to get prepared for what was then the biggest test of my life. I got my black belt but was too young to break a brick so I wore a junior black belt for 4 years. When I was 16, I tested again. This time by breaking a brick with my bare hand.

Not many people who know me today know that I have a black belt. It's weird how something that was such a huge part of your life for so long can become dormant when you don't practice. Getting my black belt is what I believe helped me get into college. I wrote my college essay on breaking a brick. I'm sure that piqued the admissions board's interest.

Today the karate studio I used to go to still exists, but their rules are much less stringent. Many parents complained at the tough lessons of discipline the school practiced, and they have loosened up a lot. I heard they don't even use real wooden boards anymore. I don't know if these new era kids are learning as strong of a lesson as I once did, but I can only hope so.

This summer I have been devoting a portion of my free time into giving back to the community, mainly through two things I love the most in life: the ocean and surfing. I have been working with inner city kids on Sundays teaching them how to surf. Within this community we have created levels for them, things they can aspire to be and grow into. They have to test to be a part of these higher levels and it brings back fond memories of my karate days. I'm so thankful I had taekwondo as a solid community in my life growing up to give me goals to strive for. I don't think youth are given enough of these opportunities today, and it is opportunities like these that can make all the difference in a person's life.

Perspective

Tonight I found out a good family friend of ours passed away in his sleep last night. I had no idea, and I even spoke to my dad on multiple occasions today. He never said a word about it to me. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe he didn't know how to let me know.

Ten minutes before I heard this news, I was pissed off beyond belief. I went to Pinkberry because I had a huge frozen yogurt craving. I dropped six bucks on a decadent dessert - which I was a bit annoyed about, but I don't have it that often so it's okay. I walked out with my yogurt and I dropped my spoon. I walked back in to get another one. As I walked out, I saw a parking meter attendant at my car. He had just printed out a ticket for me because my meter was expired. Great. Now my $6 yogurt turned into $41. I yelled at the parking guy, asking him to expunge the ticket. But it was too late, already printed.

I got home and called my parents to let them know I was going to be in a clip on tonight's episode of America's Got Talent. I was excited for them to see me and a group of my coworkers on TV. Then I heard the news. I'm still in shock.

I keep thinking about how distraught I was over a parking ticket tonight. I was so mad. Now it's nothing of importance, except a reminder to me that life is short, and stop sweating the small stuff. I need to keep this top of mind in my daily life always, and not wait for something like this to put things into perspective for me.

RIP Ben.

Dear Thief

Dear 4th of July Thief,

I was at a house party happily enjoying myself on our nation's independence day. I was hot, and decided to take a dip in the swimming pool. I didn't want to get my clothes wet, so I left them by the pool area while I dried off. Silly me for thinking I was amongst friends.

Twenty minutes later, I went back to the pool area only to find my shirt thrown up onto a random chair, my sandals strewn across the pavement, and my jean skirt nowhere to be found. Now why would you want to take a jean skirt? Oh, I know why. Because my digital camera was in my back pocket!

I must admit partial blame here for not being more concerned for my belongings. I usually keep a close guard, but I did not really stop and think someone would rummage through my clothes in such a short period of time.

Seriously, if something is not yours - don't take it! I am sick of dishonest people in this world. Have some f-ing integrity. As for now (and always), I will be keeping my shit on lock. Tight lock.

Rant over.

LT

Mt Whitney, part one

Every year for the past five years, my friend Mark has led a group of people up the Mt Whitney main trail. For those of you who don't know, Mt. Whitney is the tallest peak in the 48 states and sits at 14,500 ft right outside of Lone Pine, Ca (on the way to Mammoth). Every year I have backed out for one reason or another, whether it was not feeling like I was in good enough shape, scared, or injured.

When 2008 hit I made it my personal goal this year to hike Mt. Whitney. I told Mark I was in no matter what, and to save a spot for me. I began training in February mainly just by trying to get in good physical shape. At this point I've been working out 3-4x a week and dropped nearly ten pounds in my quest to live a healthier lifestyle.

Two weeks before our trip, people were hanging out on the summit of Mt Whitney in tank tops and sports bras. I was excited the trail would be summer time conditions and I would not need winter mountaineering gear. But the week before our scheduled trip (Memorial Day Weekend), it snowed 4 feet in the Sierras. D'oh!

After four trips to REI, and a last minute decision to purchase an ice axe and crampons, I was ready to go but a nervous wreck. Word on the street was that no one had broken the trail since the storm. And I definitely didn't want to be the first.

I met the crew in Ontario on Friday night. We had a delicious meal at Red Lobster and our waiter was awesome. It was the first time I'd seen James since December so it was great to catch up. After that we drove to Lone Pine and camped at Diaz Lake Campground. We got there at one in the morning, laid out a tarp and our sleeping bags on the ground, and fell asleep under the stars. It was a gorgeous night and I was able to see the big dipper and the milky way for the first time ever. The sky was so clear it was almost magical.

Saturday morning we woke up, went through our gear, and got our packs ready for the hike. We stopped at the visitor's center, picked up our permit and wag bags, and set off to breakfast at High Sierra cafe. We were so funny at breakfast, all of us secretly hoping we'd be able to make one last meaningful stop at the restroom before heading out into the wild for the next 2 and a half days. We then drove up to Whitney Portal, which sits at around 8,000 ft. We emptied our cars of all things smellable and put them in the bear lockers. We got ready and weighed our packs on the scale. Mine weighed in at 36 lbs, not too shabby.



The first part of the hike up to Lone Pine Lake was chill. I caught up with Mark on what's been going on for the past couple months and got to know his cousin, Brandon. We stopped at the lake for lunch and the water was just amazing. It was pure dark blue. Mark busted out the salami and we had salami, cheese, and crackers for lunch. But I just ate the cheese and crackers. Mmm... Ritz. After lunch the boys played on the slope and used a thermarest chair to glissade down the hill. We then set off for Trail Camp. It was a pretty strenuous hike to get up there, walking consisently uphill up what we deemed the "spiral staircase." After hiking for about 7 hours or so, we reached Trail Camp, which was where we were going to set up camp for 2 nights. Trail Camp sits at over 12,000 ft. It definitely took some getting used to being up there. Justin and I set up our tent, the "V.I.P.," and we cleared the snow off the ground by cutting up the chunks of snow with our ice axe. It was pretty hilarious.



Once camp was set up, Michelle and I went out to the frozen lake and pumped water for our group. By then it was nighttime and we had noodles and dried blueberry cobbler for dinner. It was FREEZING out which made us all very cold and miserable and unwilling to hang out. But then these guys came over and brought us a 30 dollar bottle of cabarnet. He poured it into a nalgene for us and we passed it around until it warmed us up. The guy who gave us the wine told us he was the first group to break the trail that day. He went all the way to the summit and paved the way for the future groups to come. He said he even had a guy in his group who summitted and had never worn crampons or an ice axe before, which was encouraging for me.

(Part 2 to come later. Going to bed now. Tired.)

Mt Whitney, Part 2

*This blog is dedicated to Cara, who reminded me today that I need to write part 2 of my adventure.

After we heard about a group breaking the trail, we were encouraged, but I was still concerned. We went to sleep and I must admit, sleeping at over 12,000 ft had quite the effect on me. I could hardly fall asleep and had an aching headache all night. By the time the sun came up, I was still so tired but knew that even sleeping in wouldn't help at this point. We got up and made hot chocolate. The sun was shining and we could see a group of guys who we had passed on the trail the day before hiking up the crazy slope, which I have deemed "the gnar." The 99 switchback portion of the trail was covered in snow, so people were hiking straight up the snow chute alongside the mountain to get to the top. It was insane. Imagine yourself walking vertically straight up a black diamond ski hill. That's what this was like. 1,600 vertical feet and a 50 degree angled slope. I was nervous about using crampons, but one I stepped foot in the snow I was so glad I had those suckers on my feet. The way we walked up the hill was very rhythmic - plant your ice axe in the snow and step one-two up the hill.



I was taking big steps at first in an attempt to cover more ground, but that left me with more room to slip so I took smaller steps. The ice axe was a real life saver because it made me feel stable while moving forward up the hill. We took it slow and stopped for water breaks when needed. This was clearly going to be the toughest part of the trip but after getting a rhythm going, I felt much more comfortable in the snow and using my gear. I knew this was something I was going to be able to handle. Just to get an idea of how crazy this hill was, here is a picture of the portion of the trip from Trail Camp to Trail Crest:



After three and a half hours ascending the gnar, we finally made it to trail crest. Mark and Michelle were hanging out on the rocks overlooking the chute, and James, Brian, and Justin all had already eaten lunch and took off for the summit. At this point I wasn't sure if I was going to summit. Mark told us that the hardest part of the trip was behind us so I wanted to go for it. We ate a quick lunch of tuna and ritz crackers (digging the ritz into the tuna packet and spilling cracker crumbs everywhere) and then geared up for our trip along the backside of the mountain to the summit. This part of the trail was still covered in snow and required crampons the entire way, but we only needed to use the ice axe in critical areas. And these critical areas were pretty steep. You'd walk across a thin patch of snow and look to the right and see a cliff. Then you'd look to your left, and there'd be another cliff. So you had to pay attention and focus intensely on what you were doing.

Along the backside as we approached closer, we could see the cabin on the top of Whitney. It looked so tiny but got bigger with each step. When we started to get super close, Brandon and I ended up hiking alongside these two guys from Orange County. They were about 600 ft in front of us and kept looking up ahead and telling me how far I had to go. Once we got within one football field range of the summit I knew I had to charge it. I got up to the top and couldn't believe how awesome the view was. It really did feel like you were on top of the world, with everything else below you. I put down my pack and we took pictures with the group. i also needed to give my legs a rest so I sat down and James gave me a clif bar. Then the guys from Orange County offered us Skittles, which tasted so good! Mark was hilarious at the summit and was talking to his parents on the phone for like 10 minutes. He got cell phone service up there and so did Michelle. I tried to use their phone to call my parents and let them know I made it to the top, but then the cell phones stopped working. But I decided that was probably better anyway because in reality, the journey was only half over. In words of Tom Petty, "what goes up, must come down." On our way out, we signed the guest book at the top. I wrote my name and MySpace url, of course. And next to the guest book was a Staples "Easy" button that says "that was easy" when you pressed it. How appropriate!

We got a late start on our way back to trail crest and getting back to the gnar before the sun went down was a huge priority. Once the sun goes down, the mountain ices over which would make glissading down (sliding down the mountain on your butt) very painful and dangerous. I found the hike down to not be as bad. I was just so happy to have made it to the top. I felt proud and accomplished. When we got to trail crest there was a woman sitting on a rock waiting for her group. James was concerned because the group had not even summitted yet when we were coming down. He wanted to wait for them and make sure they were okay. In the meantime, the woman told Brandon and I how all of our friends came down about 45 minutes prior and slid on their butts and got down the hill in 5 minutes and had the best time. I wanted to do that, too, but I was very nervous. It seemed pretty scary to slid like that on your buttocks. What if I got out of control? But the thought of walking down the entire hill didn't seem appealing either so I put on my awesome waterproof neon green ski pants and got ready for our descent:



By the time Brandon and I were ready to glissade, the guys from Orange County caught up with us. It turned out they work for REI in Santa Ana and were pretty badass mountaineers. We asked their advice on glissading vs. walking down the hill and they said they'd help us through it. We walked down the hill ready to slide on our butts and noticed the snow was firming up. So we made the decision to walk down the hill with our crampons on. We had to sit on the hill and put our crampons back on and then do a mountaineering skill called a plunge step down the mountain where you step forward and dig your heel into the snow first so you make footsteps to follow. Looking down at the hill was pretty scary, especially from the top. But I kept thinking of it as being at the top of Mammoth on my snowboard. That thought kept me in check and made me realize that this was not really that much different than anything else I'd done before. The only downside to this whole process was it took fricking forever. And by that, I mean by the time we got down to the bottom it was already dark. And keep in mind that half our group slid down on their butts and made it in 5 minutes. So they ended up waiting for us for about 3 hours. They were scared something happened to us but felt okay because they saw headlamps on the hill. When we finally got to camp, I was completely exhausted and dehydrated. We ran out of water at the top of trail crest and hadn't drank anything in 3 hours. So that was not good and gave me a mega headache. And then when we got to camp it was freezing out and windy. I was pretty miserable and so cold that I was shaking. I knew the best thing for me to do would be to go to bed, sleep well, and get up in the morning. Even though I was quite uncomfortable. I still was so excited for having gone to the top of Whitney in winter mountaineering conditions. It was tough and intense, but I did it!

Sunday night I slept much, much better than the night before. I'm sure it was because I was so tired from hiking over 12 hours straight. But when I got to camp I was so dehydrated that I drank over one and a half nalgenes full of water. This resulted in me having to go to the bathroom not once, not twice, but THREE times during the night. And it was not the most convenient thing to do because each time I had to put on my hiking boots and jacket to withstand the cold. And then I had to pop a squat in the snow. Yup.

Monday morning we woke up and the sun was shining. I took some advil, drank water, and packed up my gear. I was pumped to get back down to portal and have a celebratory beer at Pizza Factory. I did not drink alcohol for 2 weeks prior to our Whitney trip because I wanted the beer to taste that much better at the end of our trip.

As we headed down, the snow was starting to melt which made for a slushy and slippery trail. There were a couple parts were I even tripped and fell in the snow. I also should add that while we were on the trip, we had to poop in a bag. They call it a wag bag. You know how when you walk your dog and you pick up their poop with a small plastic bag? Yeah, it was pretty much like that. But for humans. And once your were done, there was nowhere to dispose of your wag bags until you got to the portal. So everyone in our group had to descend down the hill with a wag bag tied to the back of their packs and attracting flies. Lovely.

The trip down was very beautiful. I started to relax more and really enjoy my surroundings. I was almost getting bummed that our time in the sierras was coming to a close and soon enough I'd be back to work and the real world. We strolled along and stopped at Outpost camp for a break. Once we got to Lone Pine Lake, we knew we were close. We charged it from there all the way to the parking lot and made it back to the Portal at around 12:30pm. When we got down, Mark, Michelle, Brian, and Justin were already three beers deep at the portal!

We dropped our packs off at the car and I changed into normal clothes. We hung out at the picnic tables outside of the portal hanging out and talking. There was a lake there and they dumped 1,000 fish from this truck into the lake so people could fish there this summer. The lady working at the portal store said by the end of the summer all those fish will be gone. Weird.

After hanging out for a bit we climbed in the cars and drove down to the Pizza Factory in Lone Pine. Let me just tell you, pizza never tasted so good. It felt like a "prepaid meal," one that was well deserved after a tough and strenuous weekend of working out. We were all sunburned, tired, sore, but happy. And I felt very accomplished. On the way down, Mark asked me the one million dollar question. Would I do this again? The answer is Heck Yes. But not with snow! This trip was truly intense and a test of will and determination. I am happy to have conquered this trail in such challenging conditions as a first-timer. Now I'd like to see what the trail looks like in the summer :)

Mt Whitney

Every year for the past five years, my friend Mark has led a group of people up the Mt Whitney main trail. For those of you who don't know, Mt. Whitney is the tallest peak in the 48 states and sits at 14,500 ft right outside of Lone Pine, Ca (on the way to Mammoth). Every year I have backed out for one reason or another, whether it was not feeling like I was in good enough shape, scared, or injured.

When 2008 hit I made it my personal goal this year to hike Mt. Whitney. I told Mark I was in no matter what, and to save a spot for me. I began training in February mainly just by trying to get in good physical shape. At this point I've been working out 3-4x a week and dropped nearly ten pounds in my quest to live a healthier lifestyle.

Two weeks before our trip, people were hanging out on the summit of Mt Whitney in tank tops and sports bras. I was excited the trail would be summer time conditions and I would not need winter mountaineering gear. But the week before our scheduled trip (Memorial Day Weekend), it snowed 4 feet in the Sierras. D'oh!

After four trips to REI, and a last minute decision to purchase an ice axe and crampons, I was ready to go but a nervous wreck. Word on the street was that no one had broken the trail since the storm. And I definitely didn't want to be the first.

I met the crew in Ontario on Friday night. We had a delicious meal at Red Lobster and our waiter was awesome. It was the first time I'd seen James since December so it was great to catch up. After that we drove to Lone Pine and camped at Diaz Lake Campground. We got there at one in the morning, laid out a tarp and our sleeping bags on the ground, and fell asleep under the stars. It was a gorgeous night and I was able to see the big dipper and the milky way for the first time ever. The sky was so clear it was almost magical.

Saturday morning we woke up, went through our gear, and got our packs ready for the hike. We stopped at the visitor's center, picked up our permit and wag bags, and set off to breakfast at High Sierra cafe. We were so funny at breakfast, all of us secretly hoping we'd be able to make one last meaningful stop at the restroom before heading out into the wild for the next 2 and a half days. We then drove up to Whitney Portal, which sits at around 8,000 ft. We emptied our cars of all things smellable and put them in the bear lockers. We got ready and weighed our packs on the scale. Mine weighed in at 36 lbs, not too shabby.



The first part of the hike up to Lone Pine Lake was chill. I caught up with Mark on what's been going on for the past couple months and got to know his cousin, Brandon. We stopped at the lake for lunch and the water was just amazing. It was pure dark blue. Mark busted out the salami and we had salami, cheese, and crackers for lunch. But I just ate the cheese and crackers. Mmm... Ritz. After lunch the boys played on the slope and used a thermarest chair to glissade down the hill. We then set off for Trail Camp. It was a pretty strenuous hike to get up there, walking consisently uphill up what we deemed the "spiral staircase." After hiking for about 7 hours or so, we reached Trail Camp, which was where we were going to set up camp for 2 nights. Trail Camp sits at over 12,000 ft. It definitely took some getting used to being up there. Justin and I set up our tent, the "V.I.P.," and we cleared the snow off the ground by cutting up the chunks of snow with our ice axe. It was pretty hilarious.



Once camp was set up, Michelle and I went out to the frozen lake and pumped water for our group. By then it was nighttime and we had noodles and dried blueberry cobbler for dinner. It was FREEZING out which made us all very cold and miserable and unwilling to hang out. But then these guys came over and brought us a 30 dollar bottle of cabarnet. He poured it into a nalgene for us and we passed it around until it warmed us up. The guy who gave us the wine told us he was the first group to break the trail that day. He went all the way to the summit and paved the way for the future groups to come. He said he even had a guy in his group who summitted and had never worn crampons or an ice axe before, which was encouraging for me.

(Part 2 to come later. Going to bed now. Tired.)

mobile blogging

Ifigured out how to use blogger on my blackberry. Now I can write from anywhere I have my cell phone, What a concept! I find it funny that I just so happen to be on an airplane as I type this. I have the middle seat, one row in front of the last row on the plane. It smells like an airport bathroom over here. The guy next to me is checking the laker game score on his phone as we wait to take off. I keep looking over his shoulder to see who is winning.It is halftime and the lakers are up by 17. Woo!

I had a great week. Today I realized that time is a fucking amazing gift, and really is the only thing that can truly heal a broken heart. I feel like my normal self again. I no longer find myself being sad and upset over what happened in the past, but excited for what's next. What can I say, I am not going to kid myself any longer. I am looking to find my ultimate partner in crime. I will no longer waste my time dating guys whom I have little in common with and don't enjoy the things I do. Everyone I know who is happily married says that when you find the right person, you just know because everything just works.And guess what? I believe them.

I'm starting to also really believe in the law of attraction, otherwise known as the secret. Lately when I ask for something, I somehow happen to get it. More on this later, gotta shut my phone off now. We are taking off. SF here I come!

Back In The Blogosphere

Okay, I'm back. This time for real. I have so much going on in my life, so many things spinning at all once. I feel like this blog will be a good place to post my thoughts. The days move so quickly. I blink my eyes and its 4pm. It's insane. I finally after a year and a half feel like I'm adapted to living in LA. I wouldn't say I'm fully adapted, but I am beginning to feel like my life is here. It took awhile, but it's starting to feel like home. I feel like myself again. I'm home.

Music I'm listening to right now:

City and Colour ( I can't get enough)

Death Cab For Cutie

Does It Offend You, Yeah?

My Morning Jacket

This weekend I am heading up to San Francisco for Danielle's graduation from Berkeley law school. I never really think of myself and my friends as grown ups, but we are now. I am glad I can be there to share this special day with close friends. It will be fun.

Night night.

Workout Log

A very important goal of mine this year is to improve my overall health and fitness. Part of this involves losing weight and part involves becoming more fit. One of the best ways for me to reach my goals is to have something to train for. I am currently signed up for the following athletic events:

May 30th - June 2nd - Mt. Whitney Backpacking Trip (elevation: 14,500ft)

June 7th - Camp Pendleton Mud Run

June 21st - Run Like A Girl 5 Mile Trail Run

August 16th - San Diego "America's Finest City" Half Marathon

October 19th - Nike Women's Half Marathon

In an effort to keep in shape and hold myself accountable for my actions, I am going to begin keeping a log of my workouts here on my MySpace blog. Feel free to take a look and leave comments to help keep me motivated. Wooo fitness.

LT

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Week 1 Log:

Sunday 5/11/08 - Run 3 miles

Monday 5/12/08 - 35 minutes Cardio

Tuesday 5/13/08 - 30 minutes - eliptical