300 Days of Sunshine

This past Saturday I completed my second triathlon!   It’s been three years since my first triathlon and I was eager to have something to train for again.   During my training I enjoyed rediscovering my love of swimming.   For me, I find my flow in swimming even more than running because when swimming laps you truly are in your own little bubble with your thoughts, all excess noises muted by the sounds of the water and your own breathing.   My running workouts were more enjoyable with the company of my pup, Kua, who especially loves our trail runs on the Borrego Bear Wallows trail.   The biking was probably my least favorite aspect of training as I prefer to bike for pleasure and not speed, but I got through it and distracted myself from my sore quads by admiring the beauty of the mountains around me.    Kua is training hard. "Trail running is exhausting." Old Reliable In addition to swim-run-bike, I incorporated ...

My wild west adventures continue into my first southwestern summer!   Last weekend I went camping for the first time since moving to New Mexico.   Despite growing up as a Summer Camp kid and being someone who’s totally comfortable barefoot with feet caked in dirt, I would still consider myself a very beginner camper.   I’m not yet at the point of knowing exactly what to pack and what to leave, I would probably survive on pita bread and peanut butter if I went camping alone, and I’m likely to be the person you hear about on the radio who leaves chapstick in her tent and gets attacked by bears.   According to my boyfriend, this describes me perfectly: However, I’m starting to get a clue and have learned that I really love the experience of living simplistically, sleeping in a tent, turning off the iPhone and escaping the stresses of society.   My friends and I camped in the Carson National Forest, one of the five national forests that New Mexico h...

To wrap up my first clay experience, my beginning wheelthrowing class was a lot of fun.   I made more pieces than I had expected – a few of them actually gift-worthy – and found several inspiring and beautiful glazes.   I've gotten almost all of my clay pieces back from the kiln.  Some of my pieces turned out better than others, but overall I’m really pleased with the variety. Before:  Two-toned bowl with Oxblood on the inside, Coleman Black outside... And after! This is one of my favorite bowls.  I love the way Oxblood turns out on the inside of the structure.  This was a gift for my brother, a senior at UW Madison (hence the Badger colors...) Before:  Another two-toned bowl with Pale Blue Celadon inside, Blue Green Celadon outside... And after.  This picture doesn't really do this piece justice, but I really liked how it turned out.  This will be a useful salsa bowl or candy dish! Before:  Salsa...

I offered to pick up a weekend shift at work last Sunday in exchange for having a weekday off – and not just any weekday, but the same day that my good friend, Becky, had off.   You may ask, what did we do with our glorious and rare day off?   We hiked, of course! After a pre-dawn drive up to the mountain in my Chevy Silverado, thermoses of hot coffee in hand, we arrived at the ski basin parking lot to begin our Triple Peaks hike.   The morning was chilly (or “brisk” as we would say in the north country) and reminded me of early mornings in northern Minnesota. Kua admires the view as the sun rises over the mountains. The trail begins with some uphill switchbacks toward the Pecos Wilderness boundary then continues uphill along Raven’s Ridge toward the first peak.   There were some breathtaking lookout sites along Raven’s Ridge that offered stunning views of the surrounding mountains.   I have never seen so many shades of green looking across ...