Laying it Out there.....

I got in a PhotoBooth fight.  I think I lost.....

The cutest little origami I have ever seen

Whenever I see origami things, it makes me think of the time that Desarae and I procrastinated from doing homework in college by trying to fill our entire living room with cranes.  We filled the entire coffee table, but let's be real... how many cranes can you make before you're bored enough to find homework appealing.  Anyways this is BY FAR the coolest little origami i have ever seen......

As per the usual.

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed out into the great known kentucky armed with camaraderie, 2 gallons of home-made chex mix, and hopes of climbing great, tall, rocks.  We found it all, along with great weather and lots of mud. 

Climbing is secretly a good sport for a lazy person.  Sitting around and lounging is a very important part of any climbing trip.  If you can't sit around and chill climbing may not be a good sport for you.

David and Shea lazily lounge in a hammock in the shade.

Although it is rare to see Melissa Nimmer climb, she can crush just like the rest of her family.

 Off- roading is an essential and muddy part of any trip to the Red River Gorge.....

Below is a portrait called "David"

 See Caitlyn be awesome.  Because she is awesome and a super strong climber and not a scaredy cat like me.

Can you find a venomous snake in the picture below?  This is one of the many reasons why I can be quoted as saying "I hate nature" on every single trip to Kentucky.  I like trees and I like rocks, but I hate wild venomous snakes, and bees, and going to the bathroom in non-flushing toilets.  

After a hard day of climbing nothing quenches the thirst like a bottle of Ale 8 ginger ale accompanied by a candy cigarette.

 The last sight as we drove back to Wisconsin and work.  Good bye until next time, Kentucky.

 Below are pictures from a weekend trip to Devil's Lake with my brother, Mark.  It's always exciting for me when he comes out to climb.  This was the second time he came out there and he climbed really well.  It was a joy to have one of my best friends and brother come out to do one of my favorite things in the world with me.

 He's got natural ability (good climbing runs in the family) and I secretly hope this is just the beginning of his climbing career.... alongside his skateboarding and golfing careers.  

Every once in a while we go down to enjoy the Lake at Devil's Lake.  I love being out there because it definitely feels like I am away from home and work and everything.  I am amazed by people who don't get to head out anywhere on the weekends.

Summer Summer Summer. So ready!

A few new things.... I finally took the leap to get a mac book and it is severely hurting my blogging because I don't know how to do much anything on it.  It's going to take some time for me to get used to not having a right click button and all those other little mac drawbacks.  

I also decided to get a little pick me up for summer......... 

My friend Heather did an awesome job putting in some sun kissed highlights.  :)

Spring is here and I have been climbing a lot lately.  Tomorrow I will be out climbing again, but I'm going to combine it all into one great big climbing extravaganza blog entry.

The Circus

Pete took me to the circus with Amaya.  I have mixed feelings about the circus.  It was amazing and fun, but on the other hand I can't imagine the life of a circus gypsy.  That would be an interesting reality show.


 There were so many awesome acts.  One of the more memorable events was the motorcycle cage.  There were two different motorcycles going around the cage and then they topped it off by having a woman stand in the middle.

 I don't have any actual pictures of the show because you weren't allowed to take pictures.  There were numerous acts with clowns and what I would considered old tom and jerry type humor acts.  There were lots of acts with ponies and dogs, and even a dog that was trained to walk on two legs.  My favorite act, which I think was also Amaya's, was the elephant.  It was wearing a black and sparkly silver outfit like the elephants from dumbo and they trained it to dance to the music.  Elephants otherwise known as "el-noses" were always one of my favorite animals growing up, along with monkeys, which were known as 'munk-a-dunks."




 To be completely honest I'm not sure who was more thrilled to ride the elephant.  I hope Amaya always remembers that we rode the elephant together.  Although it was probably one of 50 elephant rides she has had in her life.Amaya loved the circus and loved the animals.  She is so smart... Peter was surprising her about where we were going, but as soon as she smelled horsies and saw the popcorn she knew where we were.  She loves all the animals and as you can tell is absolutely not afraid of any of them.

And now for the sad, happy news.  Amaya and Pete and Sara have moved out to Washington D.C.  Of course I am excited for them and all the opportunities and fun things they will do out there, but I will miss them and especially Amaya!  Thank God for facetime :)

Out at the Lake

My favorite Destination this spring has been Devil's Lake.  It is a wonderful state park about 2.5 hours northwest of Milwaukee.  It's a simple day trip that can be planned on a whim;  It takes you away from the city just enough to forget about everything, but not too much that it empties your gas tank.  Last weekend we went out for a day.  I was very excited to be out there and in particular with an old friend from high school who I discovered also climbs.

We had a good group out there. We ran into a lot of people from the climbing gym, imagine that- they also like to go to Devil's Lake to climb.

 David brought along a rubiks cube, which unfortunately I found difficult to put down.  It's good to know that despite the 5 years that have passed since school my brain is not necessarily dumb.  I worked on the cube between climbs or while belaying....

 David has been injured so he told us that he did not bring along his harness in order to avoid the temptation of climbing and aggravating his injury.  Instead, he just hiked around and started climbing things without his harness or a rope.......Climbers are a special breed and climbing is an addicting sport.

 Greg styling up the rock:

Don't be surprised to see more of "the Lake" (as we call it) in the upcoming months.  Summer is coming and all I want to do is play outside!

My first runway show

I put seeing a runway show near the top of my list for this year.  I was thinking more along the lines of Chicago or New York, but my mom suggested I start in Milwaukee and someday work my way up to the fashion height of the nation. 

The show was a Boston Store preview of the Anne Klein line.  It was a lot of bright green and blue with white, at least that is the part that appealed to me.  It was quick, but quite enjoyable....I could have watched and critqued the clothes and the models for much longer.   I could never be a runway model.