Mush!

I took my Second Annual Fairbanks trip this past weekend with Jenn and Karen and Wrigley. After a long drive up to the "frozen" land (it was +40 degrees there), we unpacked in our new diggs for the weekend (thank you to Karen's friends!) and got some shut-eye. We awoke to sunshine for a day of mushing. Tom has 9 dogs at his place: Siku, Lady Lou, Haiku, Rusty, Enlo, Jerry, Smokey, and damn it, I can't remember them all. Wrigley got to join the ranks of the sled dogs that day and made no. 10 on the line. Here's a pic of him...he was so confused! He stood there looking around, and if he has thoughts, he was thinking, "What the...? What's this? Why are we all tied to this line? How come I can't turn around and jump on all these dogs? Does this mean I can't wrestle?" And before he could get his last little doggie thought out, Tom gave the team the cue to go "Hike!!" And whoosh, off they went! We were lucky enough to convince Tom to let us actually "drive" the sleds...sorta. We drove a tandem sled and man is that fun! Each of us took a ride, launched ourselves off the sled as it rocketed over berms, and ended up with bruises like you wouldn't believe. Here's a video of Jenn's take off (double click the play button on the bottom left)...
We rounded out our trip with a visit to the World Ice Carving Championships. Sure, sure, the sculptures are cool, but the real reason to visit is the ice slides. Jenn's laugh describes the fun even more than words. Here is a video of our ride down the first run of the evening.

Tele addict

I just can't help myself. I spend almost any free time on weekends trying to rip some tele turns. Today at Alpenglow in the powder, as more powder arrived:

I think I do have some Mexican in me!!

If you don't understand the heading, ask my dad. He made this comment after I painted every room in my Chicago condo a bold color. 'Nuff said. Some things just don't change. Here is a quick photo summary of my kitchen renovation...it's still a work in progress, but you'll get the idea. We'll start with the old kitchen. Notice the lovely 1980 cabinets, counters, flooring, the floor to ceiling mirror as you enter the kitchen (so Miami), the way the cabinets block out the view between the dining room and kitchen, and that spectacular microwave...

I tried to open this place up - knocked out the wall between the dining room and kitchen to make the kitchen a few inches bigger (until we hit the big window), blew out the wall above the cabinets, and those cabinets will be replaced with glass doors on both sides for easy access and 100% visibility! And how about this new floor? It's cork! No, not from wine bottles, although that's not a bad idea. It's a newish greenie thing and I totally dig it. I'll have to post more photos once this project is finally complete, i.e. I have cabinet doors and my built-in wine rack. :) Think the colors brighten the place up?? Ole!!

Rippin it up

Most of you know that I took up telemark skiing last winter. I am proud to report that I had my first MAJOR breakthrough last weekend at Alyeska. I finally got my pole plant timing down and my upper body down the fall line. Huh? What does this mean? It means I was rippin it up!! I was truly tele skiing, and it totally rocked. I'm hooked.

Peace out '07!

2007 has been a great year for me. Spent the last days tele skiing - thought my thighs may literally burst into flames on the last run of the year. Yeooowwww! Here are a few parting shots. Bring on '08!