Ain't Nobody Got Time Fo' Bronchitis

It's been a while since my last update, but it seems like this month has passed quickly but with a lot of activity.

Work... sorry, SERVICE

I'm still not used to calling what I do "service" instead of work. Maybe by the time my service year is over I'll be used to it. Either way, it's been a busy month for me. I've traveled all over the place for meetings, field visits, a training, and a retreat. I finally made my first visit to Cardigan Lodge for our Trails Staff Retreat. Not only is Cardigan awesome, but I got to reconnect with my boss from last summer and catch up on everything that's happened since then. It was a great way to meet new people in my department and spend more time with those I already know. 

Adam attended the 139th Annual Summit with me, a hybrid of conference-style workshops and business meetings. I got to present in the Trails Committee meeting about what I'm doing on the BCT this year and then attend some cool workshops in the afternoon. I've mostly been in the office aside from traveling for meetings and such, and my projects are really picking up. Almost everything is in the planning stages, but I still feel like I have a full day's work to do when I come in. It's a big change from the the Fall months when I was basically killing time the whole day. I mean, that's the nature of working in a role that has an intense field season. The off-season months are pretty damn slow in comparison. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. 

Life

Some good, some bad... I'll start with the bad. For the first time in about a year and a half I truly got sick. I had a creeping suspicion that I was going to get walloped at some point. My mom had a stomach bug that incapacitated her over Thanksgiving, then people at REI started dropping left and right with the same thing. Then an upper respiratory thing started going around my office. I visited home one weekend to find my mom barely able to speak above a whisper, and I thought, "it's coming, I know it's coming". I was notoriously sick all the time in high school and college. Somehow I always caught whatever was going around. I knew I was doomed on the morning I had to drive 2.5 hours to Cardigan Lodge for our Trails Dept. Retreat. I toughed it out for a few days, but eventually went to the doctor and got diagnosed with bronchitis and sinusitis. 

I don't know if it's just because it's been a while since I've been sick, but I can't believe how long this has lingered. I'm on a course of antibiotics and it still hasn't fully cleared up. Thankfully my cough is better and my lungs don't feel like a pit of hellfire anymore, but my sinuses have revolted against me. I've had enough sinus headaches to last me for a long time. I've also never dealt with more consistent inner-ear pressure, which is particularly defeating because it is screwing with my balance clear-headedness. I need all the clear-headedness I can get. 

Okay, now for the GOOD! I GOT MY OWN SKIS! Up until now I've been using Adam's alpine skis, which are a hair too long and too stiff for me. It worked fine, but I wasn't 100% comfortable on them, something that I realize now that I have skis better suited for me. I wasn't planning on buying skis until I moved closer to the mountains, but the deal was too good to pass up. So, I'm now the proud owner of Ski Magazine's "SKI OF THE YEAR": Volkl Yumi, an all-mountain freeride ski.

After our first day together

Adam and I spent a day at Bretton Woods and I was able to test out my these beauties. It was definitely different in a good way, and after a few runs I was loving it! They're really great. I just want to ski all the time. 

Reflections

Ladies on the lift!

I was able to take the new skis for another spin at Wachusett, where a group of us went for Kelsey's FIRST TIME SKIING EVERRRR! We took advantage of REI's new "Yay Day" program, in which employees get 2 paid days per year to do outdoor activities. So yes, we got paid to go skiing. How awesome is that?

Kelsey had a slow start to her day, but by lunchtime she was flying down the greens so fast that I was having to forgo practicing my pole-planting to catch up to her at the bottom. I ventured over to the other side of the mountain and skied my first blue run, something that Adam has told me a million times that I could totally do. I just didn't have the confidence. I knew I probably could but I didn't want to just tumble down the whole thing. I was skiing with my friend Cam, who has the same experience level that I do, and he was able to do the blue runs fine. I decided that if Cam could do it I could, too, and it turns out I could. And did. And ROCKED IT. I would eat a slice of humble pie if I wasn't so proud of myself. It seems silly because most people that ski can breeze down a blue run no problem, but I've had so few days out on the mountain that I was pretty happy with my progress. I've gotta say, there's not many better ways to spend your day than getting paid to ski with your friends. 

For now I need to focus on somehow getting rid of this lingering sinus bullshit so I can have more energy and gusto to get through my day, and especially so I can fully enjoy the 2-day ski vacation Adam and I have coming up at the beginning of February. Where did I put that box of Emergen-C.....

To My Co-Leader

I really miss summer.

And no, it's not the frigid temperatures. Side note: do people think that the weather only applies to them? Yeah, I know, it's cold out. I don't need to see a photo of what your weather app says. It's January in New England, if it's 75 degrees THEN I'll be surprised. I miss summer because it was easy and hard at the same time. The work was hard but it was extremely rewarding at the end of the day. Life was easy because it was simple and filled with people I really enjoyed. One of the people I enjoyed most was my co-leader, Lumberjack. He recently wrote this piece about his life in the dogsledding world, and it made me miss him that much more (queue "AWWWWWW"). He is a pivotal piece in my great summer, because if he sucked then my summer would have REALLY sucked. I infamously had the absolute worst group members for projects in school (I mean, like, really really bad), and it made my life hell. I couldn't imagine how terrible it would be to live and work with someone I couldn't stand for three months straight. Lucky for me, he didn't suck. 

I was really nervous about having a crappy co-leader. All the other co-leaders rotated through leading together, so some people only lead together once. Since Lumby and I were an hour away we would be together the entire summer, no rotating. We lived in canvas tents (or backpacking tents) not 20 feet away from each other. We worked side by side every day. The first time we had a crew big enough to split into two project sites we both felt really weird to be leading without the other. There weren't many off days that we didn't hang out. 

I learned that the gruff, blunt, bearded man I met during training was really a softy at heart. Still, he had no tolerance for bullshit. 

Almost every single lunch break looked like this

And this (doing push-ups for swearing)

I quickly learned how much he loved to lounge, to sit and read a book, but also that he was one of the hardest workers I've ever met. I can't tell you how many times I found myself saying "okay, kids, why is Lumby the only one doing something right now?" Example:

Finishing touches on our worksite

I always had a blast playing little games when I got to know his work style better. I would be making crush, a favorite activity of mine, which involves finding rocks and smashing them into smaller rocks with a 8-10lb doublejack (sledgehammer). Those rocks are used to set and support other rocks or logs or whatever you're working with. Sometimes we would be working in an area that didn't have great "crush rocks". Ideally they should be "pancake" rocks with lots of striations, but sometimes you could only find round, dense, smooth rocks. Throughout the day we would send people off into the woods to collect crush rocks, and often kids would bring back rocks that were near impossible to break. Good crush rocks will smash with almost no force, bad ones will get a mere dent even after several full, strong hits. Anyway, if I was making crush and came across a "bad" crush rock I would tell the kids "watch this", then yell "Hey, Lumby, come here! I don't think this rock is going to break! You wanna try?". A little crowd would giggle as he came over, silently inspected the rock, then continuously smash it until it was obliterated. Without any other words he would turn back to me, hand me the tool, and say, "Hm. There you go, Bean.", and go back to what he was doing before. Could I have broken the rock eventually? Probably. But tell Lumby he can't do something and he will keep trying until he proves you wrong. 

Making crush

Our best times were probably when him and I had to do something we didn't want our participants doing, or had to get something done fast. It was usually something dangerous and borderline stupid to do, like:

Dig out mud/rocks from under a step stone that was nearly impossible to get back out of its mud-ridden hole while your trusted co-leader (me) sits on the rock bar propping it up and takes photos of you. Also, never ever do that. It's a terribly dangerous idea. We had a grand 'ol time dealing with dangerous and stupid situations. It was also a blast to do really great work FAST because we were so strong and in shape. We could work together seamlessly and without words.

Most of all, we really enjoyed each other and it gave us a strong bond that lasted the whole season. When I was out for my back injury I got a call from Lumby telling me he flipped his truck. Service was terrible, so I promptly jumped up and half sprinted half hobbled down the street without shoes on to try to get back on the phone. Thankfully he was okay, and I only looked mildly insane.

The story of my summer would have been immensely different if I didn't have a partner like Lumby. There are other things that make it great, but I can't help but recognize what a key role he was. It's amazing how quickly two people can come to work well together, trust each other, feel the need to look out for each other, and become friends. Three months isn't a long time... unless you live with that person day in and day out. I'll end this with a quote from the man himself - "They said I could choose my co-leader if I came back next summer. I said thanks, but in my head I said 'Yeah... but Bean won't be back next summer, sooo.....' "

Saying Goodbye to 2014 on Mt. Flume

December 31st, 2013, on Mt. Liberty's summit

Adam and I have made hiking our New Year's tradition, and it's now officially a tradition because we did it two years in a row. Last year we conquered Mt. Liberty, our first "big" winter hike together, after a frigid night sleeping in the car. We planned on doing Mt. Flume and Mt. Liberty, a classic loop, but slept in later than planned and decided to skip Flume at the last minute. It was a very surreal experience - it was an overcast day with light snow falling on us, and the summit looked like a black and white photo.

The reason we cut out Flume last year was because the trail is insanely steep and notoriously difficult. I had no regrets about our decision not to do it, in fact I think it was smart of us, but it kept nagging me that we didn't just bag it while we were already there. When we started planning our New Year's trip Flume seemed like an obvious choice. It was close to the hotel we were staying at, the restaurant we planned to eat at, and we could finally revisit exactly one year after we bailed on it. Perfect!

... Except maybe not. I was a ball of nerves about the trip after my poor showing on our hike up the Hancocks, especially since this would be a similar trip. We would sleep out the night before, except this time it would be much colder, and the steepest section is just about the same length of the steepest section of North Hancock, where I had my little melt down. The hike up the Hancocks ended well, but it was hard to shake the thought that I might have a repeat performance. I told Adam I would only do Flume if I felt good, if not we would switch our plans to Cannon (another mountain that we failed to get up last New Years, for different reasons).

Cooking dinner by headlamp

Well, I didn't call the audible and we packed our bags for Flume. I was still nervous for how the Slide would go, but the biting cold took a front seat in my mind. The forecast called for 1 degree Fahrenheit with wind chills at -4 overnight. Our sleeping bags are rated to 23 degrees, and though we've honed in our winter camping setup I was still worried we wouldn't have a good night. I wanted to get as close to the base of the Slide as possible the night before, and the easy terrain allowed us to do just that. We made great time because there was so little elevation gain, which was nice but it made crystal clear just how the steep the Slide would be. As I mentioned, our camp setup was much more efficient and we tag-teamed setting up camp and cooking dinner. The cold really sunk into my bones while I cooked dinner; I had to get up and do jumping jacks every few minutes to keep blood flowing.

Yes, thank you.

It was indeed a cold night, and despite our 23 degree rated bags we stayed warm enough to not shiver all night. Our sleep setup was as such: double nest hammock with our bags zipped together (to share body heat), hot water bottle (I put mine inside a wool sock) at our feet, our fuel and other things we needed to keep warm inside the bags with us, mylar blanket in between the hammock and underquilt, and waterproof tarp above us. Everything was going fine until 2:30am, when I woke up for seemingly no reason. I tried and tried to get back to sleep, but every time I started to settle in Adam would snore, and I would jab him in an attempt to get him to stop. In retrospect, I should have just let him sleep so one of us would be rested, but my half frozen brain didn't work that way. Finally, at 4:00am we got up (we had planned to get up at 5:00, anyway). It turned out my sudden inability to sleep was hunger, even though I didn't feel hungry, because almost the second I ate breakfast I was ready to sleep. We took a few minutes to digest and I concocted scenarios in which we could continue to lay in a cocoon of warm down feathers instead of facing the cold.

Flume Slide Trail

We got moving at about 7:15am - not bad timing. I kept waiting to turn the corner and see the Slide, every time I saw a steep slope ahead I thought "oh, please, don't let the trail turn up whatever that is." The trail started to get rockier, which I knew indicated we were nearing the base of the Slide. When it did start to get a bit steeper I asked Adam if he thought we were on it yet, to which he replied "no, don't think so." I felt like he was wrong but laughed and said, "oh, bummer." We took about 5 more steps, looked up the ridiculously steep, rocky, icy path, and he said, "actually, I think we are!".

The Slide was hard, no doubt about it, but it wasn't the worst. It was impossible to go fast as each step required careful placement, so instead of a huge cardio workout it was more like a gigantic, prettier StairMaster that went on forever. Our quads, calves, and glutes burned to the high heavens, but it actually wasn't THAT bad. We knew it would be hard going into it, and that made it all the more manageable. It was mostly comical at times. That being said, it was heinously steep. Laughably steep. It was almost inconceivable that THAT was the trail. Such is hiking in the White Mountains, though.

Not an exaggeration, the Slide is really that steep

Things only almost went sour once. I had a good pace going, I was in my groove, the dooming feeling of rounding the corner and seeing the same insane grade to get up wasn't with me. I felt good, but I was also ready to get to the top. I placed my trekking poles uphill to use them pull me while I pushed up with my legs, they slipped on ice and I nearly face planted. I told myself "don't get mad, you're fine. Everything's fine." The same exact thing happened on the next step, I repeated my little mantra. On the next step I looked up and saw the junction - we had made it to the top of the Slide. I felt like a million bucks. We weren't even that tired, sure we had fatigued muscles but our energy levels were okay. After a few minutes of refueling and layering up we continued on to the summit of Mt. Flume and were awarded awesome views. We couldn't stay long - air temps were easily in the single digits and the wind chill was -20ish. At that point the air is just painful. It hurts to draw it into your lungs on a deep breath, it hurts to have it touch any exposed skin, it just plain sucks. 

Summit of Mt. Flume

View from Liberty 

We flew down Flume to the col between Flume and Liberty, it was a nice easy descent but the wind was still getting through the trees so we knew we had to move quickly. Our next climb was "easier" - we were already up high and just needed to climb out of the col onto the summit of Liberty. It was only "easier" on paper. There turned out to be a pretty significant elevation gain, and it was the only time I truly almost turned sour (way more so than the slipping trekking pole incident). I started to slip into the familiar "stop every 20 feet" drag that I was in on the Hancocks. When that happened on the Hancocks I was incredibly hard on myself to the point of being mean. I mentally screamed at myself to keep going, including profanities and other non-nicieties. Remembering how well that worked (SARCASM), I chose to say nice things to myself instead. It seams so juvenile and silly, but being nice to myself was so much more effective. Sometimes words or thoughts pop into your head for reasons you don't really know when you're in that kind of situation, and this time the word was "persist". 'Persist, persist, persist, you are strong, keep going, you can do it, you are strong, persist' I repeated in my head. This little pep-talk seems almost embarrassing now, but it really did work. 

Summit of Mt. Liberty 

Our descent was pleasant, it was hard packed ice and snow that was easy to navigate down with traction on. The only bad thing was that the air temps were still so low that we couldn't stop for long before losing feeling in our feet and hands. Oh, and my toe exploded. Either I didn't cut my toenail right or my toe had been frozen for a while and was thawing, but it started bothering me on our descent. About a mile after I first noticed it I suddenly felt like someone took a white hot fire poker and stuck it directly on my toe. I don't think it was solely my toenail because the pain was my entire toe and it was isolated from the rest of my toes. It was unpleasant, but not a trip ruiner. 

Finished!

What I feared would be a repeat performance of our last trip turned out be one of the best winter hike's I've done. It was certainly a tough challenge mentally and physically, but I was proud of myself and Adam for what we accomplished. I was even happier with myself for keeping a positive attitude and persisting through the whole experience without being so harsh on myself.

So what went so RIGHT?

Here's what went so right and things that I learned from this trip:

Cat Crap works

One of the most irritating things that sometimes acts a catalyst for my mood taking a swan dive into a pool of frustration is my glasses/goggles fogging up and clouding my vision. It's really obnoxious to be blind, guys. I used an anti-fog solution by Smith Optics and it didn't work one iota. My sister got me Cat Crap for Christmas, a product I'm semi-familiar with because we sell it at REI, but I didn't really believe it would work. I was wrong, it actually worked really damn well. I didn't apply it to my goggles and ended up ditching them for most of the day because they kept freezing after fogging up. It wasn't a 100% cure, but it definitely made a big difference.

More efficient camp setup

Every time we've gone winter camping we've learned something that we can do better, and we're finally our ducks in an efficient row. It makes all the difference when things go smoothly at camp.

Smartwool liners

Better glove liners

Up until now I have been using thin wool liners under my big waterproof mittens, that way I can still be covered when I take my mittens off for dexterity. I'm a big believer in wool, but I've gone through a pair of Smartwool liners and Icebreaker liners and both have holes in them. Icebreaker has held up much longer the Smartwool, they're still very usable, but neither was heavy enough for those conditions. I don't mind having a hole in the fingertips when I wear them around the city, but when it's 0 degrees it's not okay. I invested in a pair of Outdoor Research PL 400 Sensor gloves and it was the best decision I made about this trip. They're much thicker but they still fit inside my mits, and they save my hands for much longer than the wool liners did.

Hydration

I know how important hydration is. I practiced it and preached it all summer long, I brought it up probably 5-6 times a day. I'm not a new hiker, not even that new of a winter hiker/camper now, but I always seem to go into our winter hikes slightly dehydrated. It's nearly impossible to catch up on a hike. Water freezes, and it sucks to drink ice cold water when it's 0 degrees. I forced myself to drink as much as I could the night before and it made a world of difference. I drank water at every opportunity and I was much happier for it.

Being nicer to myself

I'm inclined to roll my eyes and laugh at the little speeches I give myself in my head, the very intentional positive language I used, because it sounded like it was straight out of some self-help book, but like I said before it made a world of difference. Working with myself instead of against myself was key. Last time I learned that I cannot motivate myself by being mean to myself, and this time proved that the opposite DOES work... for me, at least.

This trip was a great way to cap off 2014, and an great way to enter into 2015. I'm so glad we chose to take on Flume instead of Cannon, and even happier that it's no longer staring at me every time I look at my list!

2014 Retrospective

2014: The Sky As My Roof

2014 was filled with equal parts adventure and misadventure; and I don't strictly mean misadventure as "bad", though it is defined as a "mishap, unfortunate incident". Sometimes unfortunate incidents are good in the end... like the first time Adam & I hammock camped and the ropes snapped umpteen million times. That misadventure taught us not to undo knots with a multitool, as it causes minuscule frays in the line that snap under pressure. Speaking of camping, I have deemed 2014 as the year the sky was my roof. This year has been more focused on the outdoors, and actually being outdoors, not just wishing I was, than any other year so far. Here is my year in review:

Winter/Spring

Bushwhacking our way around Cannon - "Is it this way?"

The first day of 2014 was supposed to spent checking an "easy" 4,000 footer off of our list: Cannon Mountain. The trail was only 2 miles each way, it seemed like a no-brainer... but when we got on trail we quickly realized it was not going to be easy. It was so steep that it just didn't seem logical, and no matter how hard we tried to navigate with the map, guide, and our instinct, we couldn't figure it out. The weather started to turn and we called an audible, then spent the rest of the afternoon playing around in the woods. 

We were not discouraged, though, in fact we were on a high from our first "big" winter hike together, Mt. Liberty, the day before. This gave us the winter camping/hiking bug that would continue the whole year (and beyond!). Our next big adventure was to Mt. Monroe, and it proved to be the most extreme conditions of the year. Summit winds were 50mph, pushing the wind chill to about -40 degrees. It was our coldest hike of the year and incredibly strenuous, but well worth the effort and risk.

Frozen face

Clear sky's on Monroe

Ski day at Loon with the family

I skied for the first time ever in the winter/spring of '14. Now when people know I'm from New Hampshire and ask if I ski I can at least say "well, yes, I CAN ski." I spent all of my life responding with "no, I've never skied" and getting a look like 'wait... what? Are you sure? You're from New Hampshire, you know'. In my defense I was told I should never ski/snowboard because I have terrible knees, but my short ski season went really well. I only had one partial yard sale ("partial" because it was only one ski and I was only in a shallow ditch).

Adam and I made a trip to Michigan to his sister's house so he could finally meet his niece, Riley. We spent a few days hanging out with family, checking out the Detroit zoo, and visiting the Henry Ford Museum before heading back to Boston. It was around this time that I found out I got a job I applied for on a whim: teen trail crew leader with the AMC. I randomly applied on a day that I was bored at work. I despised my job at the college I was working at; it was decent money but painfully boring most of the time. My boss was great, though, so I stayed longer solely for that reason. The seasonal position with the AMC gave me a good excuse to leave for the summer. I had vague plans of going back there, but obviously my plans changed!

Adam and I wanted to get one more big hike in before I left for the summer, so we planned our first overnight together (we had been sleeping at the base of the mountain in the car for our other big hikes). We headed up towards Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison and set up the hammock at a tentsite. As I alluded to before, it was not a smooth process. One of the lines had been tied too tightly, so while I was cooking dinner Adam undid the line but had to use pliers to do what his cold hands could not. This caused the rope to snap 10 minutes in to us settling in for the night. Things could have gone much worse, though. It was an awesome hike.

Sign on Mt. Adams with loads of rime ice

Life hit the fast forward button and suddenly I had to get so many ducks in a row before I moved out to the Berkshires for 3 months. Adam and I had been working to meet a minimum fundraising goal to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer to honor Adam's mom. Our lives were so hectic that fundraising became increasingly harder, and in the end we only raised enough for Adam to participate. It was an awesome experience for both us even though only he walked. I was able to cheer him on at the finish line.

39 miles in 2 days!

I thought my head was going to explode trying to navigate all of the things I had to do before I left. The biggest stressor was subletting my apartment in Brighton, which worked out at literally the last minute, I mean he actually moved in as I was moving the last of my things out. It was a risky move, I had no idea what kind of person he was, but thankfully it turned out okay. Off to the Berkshires!

Summer

My summer in the woods was easily the most unique slice of the 2014 pie. I left Eastern Mass for Western Mass not entirely sure what to expect. Despite spending lots of time on trails, I had never done trail maintenance or construction. I was confident in my leadership, teamwork, and teaching skills, but I was totally green at trail work. I fell in love with it quickly.

Receiving, restoring, hanging, and caring for my axe all season gave me a love of traditional hand tools, something I never thought I would care much about. My axe came with me every single day, it was as much a part of my pack as any gear loop or zipper. 

End of staff training

We had a quirky, outgoing, ridiculous staff in the Berkshires, and it made for a rambunctious summer. For better or for worse, there was never a dull moment when we were all together. I think it was for better. My days were long and very physically demanding. There were times I wanted to just go back to my tent, put in my headphones, and sleep for 15 hours. Many days were mentally and emotionally draining as well, since crew leaders are never "off". We were "on" from the moment the first kid arrived until the moment the last one left. As tough as it was, I wouldn't change any part of it. Not only did I get (excuse my French) fucking ripped, but it was probably the most rewarding work I've done. I cherish the people I met and memories that we made, but for the rest I will defer to my earlier post saying goodbye to my summer in the woods.

                                                     

Fall/Winter

POW POW!

 Adam picked me up from the Berkshires at the end of August and we made the ~7 hour drive to his grandparent's house in Pennsylvania. It was a trip of firsts for me; I met more of Adam's family, I visited PA for the first time, and I shot a gun. That's right folks, I grew up in New Hampshire and it took me 24 years to shoot my first gun. Can you believe it? It was exhilarating and terrifying... mostly terrifying, actually.

After our mini-vacation ended we headed back to Boston to end the longest hiatus I have had from the city in 6 years. It was a period of big changes for me. We moved to a nice apartment building in Newton, and since I was away all summer I saw the apartment for the first time as we moved our things into it.

I didn't have much time to settle in, because a week into September I had to begin training and orientation for my new position with MassLIFT-AmeriCorps. I was introduced to the program by Collin, who kindly let me use his computer and pick his brain during the application process this summer. I was somewhat familiar with the positions and program through Collin, but my position was entirely new. There are other Community Engagement Coordinators in the program, but this was the first time AMC was hosting an AmeriCorps member outside of the Berkshires. It took a while to get settled in, but I'm in more of a groove now. A lot of my job involves walking around the woods, how bad can that be?

I think she liked it

Emma turned 6 this year, which is absolutely mind-boggling for me. Every year we say "I can't believe she's -insert age-", but this one seems more monumental because she's in 1st grade. She rides the bus, for goodness sake!

Fall seemed incredibly short between the move, new job, and generally adjusting back to Boston life. I have notoriously loved summer much more than winter almost my whole life, but last winter was so fun that I was ready for snow to fall. I wanted to get back to the mountains for skiing, hiking, and camping. Thankfully, we were able to squeeze in a few trips including an overnight in the hammock and a 2-day trip to Killington. 

Hammock camping

Ski trip to Killington

The holidays were spent with my family, though they didn't seem to last long enough. When do they ever? Adam had to work until 8:00pm on Christmas Eve, so our usual festivities that night were cut short. It was a fantastic Christmas nonetheless. My mom told us that if she didn't have our Christmas lists by Thanksgiving she was giving Adam a bedazzled pair of briefs... and she ACTUALLY DELIVERED ON THAT PROMISE. My mom often says ridiculous things like that in passing, so "in passing" that you forget she said it until you open a box with bedazzled underwear in them. 

Stylin'

We spent New Year's in the Whites and brought in 2015 on a positive note. This year was a rollercoaster to say the least. Just as I got settled into something I had to uproot and move again. That's not necessarily a complaint, but it did make for a lot of challenging transitions. I can definitely say that those changes got me to a much more positive place by the end of 2014. I started the year splitting my time between REI (a job I like but don't necessarily want to be full time at) and the college (a job I wholeheartedly despised). Now I'm in a position with an organization I love, and while I may not want to be in this specific role forever it is giving me great experience. My year isn't just measured in what job I had/have, but also in the times I've spent with loved ones, new friends, old friends, family, etc. I got to spend more time in the mountains and became a much stronger hiker/climber. It has allowed me to take on bigger challenges and enjoy my time outdoors. 2014 was truly a year with the sky as my roof.