...in which my heart is full.

As is my stomach. And so is my closet. But my wallet is emptying, which I think is a small price to pay.

Just another quick post so you know I'm alive and kickin' still in the great state of MI. Currently chillin' on the east side with my dad and stepmom. I'm hoping you all had a great Christmas, I know mine was full of family and friends and laughter and love and fun!

Stay tuned for a full update, but suffice it to say that I've eaten tons of delicious food, seen lots of wonderful people, and done a little (read: a lot) of shopping (primarily at H&M. Hey, we don't have one anywhere near the BZN!). We also took a little trip to Costco, which means that I now have to transport a 96-count box of granola bars through the airport. Hopefully the TSA agents don't need a little snack...

See you all next year!

...in which I share good cheer.

Happy Christmas from me to you! I got a piece of paper instead of coal this year because I have been good. I know, you're jealous. I mean, look how excited I am. This must be good.

I look like a snake about to swallow its prey. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

...in which my excitement builds to epic proportions.

What's that I hear? Michigan is calling me home! That's right kids, for 10 whole days I'll be visiting America's high five.

I wish I could insert sound effects into this blog to really show how excited I am to see my family and old friends. Just imagine me making high pitched noises (similar to the sounds I make when I see cute puppies), add in some leaping around with a pinch of frenetic dancing and you've pretty much got the idea.

...in which I climb frozen waterfalls. Part II.

Yup, I went again. This might be my new hobby. I won't go through the entire day again for you because you probably don't want to hear all the same stuff over again and then that's just a waste for me to have written it. So, if you missed it the first time, check here. The general story is the same. Except it was not an all women's clinic this time.

I did climb some taller, more vertical stuff. And made it to the top of the formation that I didn't make it up last time. Vindicated! And I think I made an in with the climbing crowd, so that's cool. Now I need a harness and a helmet and I can go night climbing with them! Yes! And I did 4 ascents. Well, I successfully completed 2. I climbed 4 times.

This is me! I'm on the right. I didn't make it up the first time I tried it. I was so tired. Then, right before I left, the belay talked me into trying it again. This time I climbed up and then over to the left where there is a big crevasse and I could climb up that. It was still hard, but they were way encouraging and I made it!

This is D. He and his brother, brother's girlfriend, and their roommate all came too. They did not love ice climbing quite as much as me. But D picked it up really well, so maybe I can convince him to come along another time!

...in which I make a mess. And bagels.

Because let's be honest, you can't really have one without the other.

First, I made a delicious dinner: chicken, rice, olives, carrots, various spices. Beer. Water. The essentials.

Ok, that was actually 2 days ago. But I've been eating leftovers since then, so I think I can still talk about it. Plus, I just really like it when you throw stuff together and it works and is quick and easy.

So yesterday I got out of work, swung through the store, came home, made dinner, made hummus, went for a run, and then decided that I should try to make bagels. It was 7:20 pm by this time. Hmmm... Here we go! I tried something new and went with 3 different kinds: plain (which I've made before), cinnamon raisin (new), sesame garlic (new).

As I've pointed out before in this post, bread making requires patience. I don't have patience. Luckily the rise time for bagels is much shorter than for bread.  Also unfortunate is the fact that the clean up time is a lot longer, especially when you're using multiple bowls and due to the simple fact that flour and cornmeal gets EVERYWHERE, no matter how careful you are. Not that I'm careful, I gave up on that long ago.

So, to make bagels you've gotta mix the dough, then knead the dough, and then let it rise. Then you have to shape the dough and let it rise. Then you have to toss the bagels into boiling water, flip 'em over, and fish 'em out. Toss 'em on cornmeal covered baking sheets, bake for 20 minutes- don't forget to flip them over half way through. Know what's hard? Kneading raisins in to dough.

I'm so sorry for the quality of these pictures.

How I look after kneading dough. All that white stuff? Flour.
Yes, that's my recipe book on the floor. This is how I work.
Haha, insert "barefoot & in the kitchen" joke here...

Bagel bath!

2 out of 3 sheets, ready to go in the oven.

Holy lord, my kitchen is a wreck.

In case you were wondering, they all turned out marvelously! I've already eaten 3.

...in which I win!

By "I," I mean a team of about 11 of us. And by "win," I mean come in third place in bar trivia.  By "bar trivia," I don't mean trivia about bars or drinking. But trivia questions asked in a bar.

After all that clarification, it's still not very clear, is it?

I play trivia in a bar on Wednesday nights. Or try to. And we usually end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. But last night, among 18 teams, we came in third! Which means we all got a beer koozie. This is exciting! I like winning and I like free things!

There are several reasons why trivia here is better than trivia at Harvey's in the 'zoo:
A. You don't have to pay to play
B. You can have as many people as you want on a team (both good and bad)
C. There are usually prizes for first, second, and third place
D. The questions are not made up by pompous grad students who are trying to prove their intelligence by asking absurdly obscure questions.

...in which I almost get charged by an elk.

Good thing it was missing antlers.

Let's start from the very beginning, shall we? D, one of his roommates, and I decided to go try cross country skiing in Yellowstone. None of us have ever cross country skied before. Have you? It's hard! We were worried at first because there was not a lot of snow driving in, but the rangers assured us that we would have no problem. They were correct.

So we start on this little 1.5 mile loop, and we're all at least moving along in a forward motion. D fell right away, but his roommate B and I were still on our feet (although D was definitely moving a lot faster than us). Then I decided I wanted to take a picture, so I tried to back up. And I fell over. But look at this shot!

Taken near the Mammoth Terraces, 

in case you wondered.

We decided we were ready for bigger and better things, so we went off in search of a more scenic trail. We were still not great at stopping. Or going downhill. But somehow we felt ready to head into the backcountry where the park ranger discouraged us from going. We got maybe half a mile in and suddenly the trail... ah... stopped. But that didn't stop us, oh no. Here's D, blazing a new trail!

 Fearless leader

By this time, I have fallen approximately 15 times. This is not an exaggeration. Thank God for fluffy snow, each fall was well padded. I was not a stunning image of grace on XC skis.  It was super fun though, don't get me wrong! I just had no clue what I was doing. Well, none of us did. Eventually we hit the point where we realized that it was going to take us forever to do the 10 mile loop that we wanted to try. And we weren't really on the trail. As D said, "The NPS is going to see our tracks and be super mad," because, well, the NPS doesn't really like you just trouncing around on their plant life. So we decided that we were defeated for the day and we turned around. Going back? 10 times easier...

YWS in winter

We got back to the car and considered finding another trail to try. Then we said screw it and headed over to the Boiling River. The Boiling River is where a 140 degree hot spring joins up with the Gardiner River. Basically, it's a giant natural hot tub. And it's fantastic. We sat there for over 2 hours while elk wandered around and ate across the river. Sorry, no pictures because with my luck I'd drop my camera in the river.

I am not the most observant person in the world, so at the start of the 1/2 mile walk back to the car I managed to miss the fact that 5 elk were standing right by the path and chomping on some grass. I looked back because D was taking a different path and I was like "What are you doing? Going off path kills the natural landscape!" and D was like "Ahh... Elk kill people, and you're freaking out the elk. They're staring you down."

In case you were concerned, I did not get charged by an elk. But I was a lot more careful after that.

...in which I climb frozen waterfalls.

As if I don't have enough hobbies, I thought I'd try a new one: ice climbing! Because when you live in a place where it's winter 5 months out of the year, you should find some winter sports to enjoy. Obviously ice climbing isn't something you can just jump right into, so I signed up for a women's clinic through the Bozeman Ice Festival. It was, in short, probably some of the best money I have ever spent.

Warning: this is a super long, super photo-intensive post. Just a little forewarning. And these aren't even all my photos! The rest will find their way on to facebook I'm sure.

It started Thursday night with the gear expo. You could demo anything and everything you wanted. I checked out crampons, boots, gloves, axes, a harness, a helmet, and two jackets. Check it out:

Free gear! Want to know how much this would
have cost me if I didn't return it? $1,810.
Yes, I returned it all. But I wanted that $350 blue
jacket super badly.

Ice axe close up. Monster! It was sharp.

At the expo, I met a woman named Kristi from Lewistown who was also a total newbie. We carpooled up to the staging area and were in the same clinic. She will be sending me some pictures that she took with her super nice camera, but I just couldn't wait to post everything.

Kristi, ready to go!

So on Friday I got up nice and early (5:30) to make sure that I had all my stuff and to meet Kristi at 6:50. It was snowing, windy, and about 20 degrees. We split into our groups around 8:15 and finally started hiking in around 8:45. We got to our learning area and immediately started doing the fun stuff like putting on our harnesses and crampons. Crampons = sharp and hard to walk in. You kind of have to walk like a cowboy, otherwise you hook your pants and fall over. This is bad for a variety of reasons, but mostly because you look stupid. So we learn to swing an axe (and get nailed in the face by lots of flying ice), then we learn body position and ax position for moving efficiently upward. I don't know that any of us were particularly efficient, but we were moving upward so that's something! I got to go up the ice first.

This is what we learned on. It goes up higher, I swear.

I'm in the red. Climb on! One of our instructors is on 

the left. Her name is Sarah. She was a rock star.

Let's get this train a-rollin'. 

Onward and upward!

Who thought it was a good idea to give

me so many sharp implements?

This angle makes me look way more hardcore than I am.

Successful first climb! My instructor says I'm 

a natural. My instructor is paid to make me

feel good about myself, haha.

So we all took our turn on this first climb. I also learned how to belay, which I've never done before. And I didn't drop anyone! Then we basically got turned loose for the rest of the day. So we moved on to the next set of ropes.

This was our next stop! In case you were wondering, ice is 

rated on a scale of 1-7. These are considered 3-4s 

based on how vertical they are. The learning curve

is steep in ice climbing, you can progress pretty fast.

I'm so excited...

And I just can't hide it!

Monkey climbing!

It is difficult to kick your boots in. Apparently I am

right footed, as my big toe on my right foot hurts.

And my arms, oh my gosh my arms are so tired!
This is probably graded a 3, if you were wondering.

Successful climb #2! This is going to be a good day.

You could hear the water running behind the ice. It was crazy. So after this face, we decided to move on to the harder stuff.

And I'm heading back down to Earth.

I eventually climbed the one that the girl in blue 

is in front of. But for now we're heading all 

the way down to the right.

Ascent #3 begins! Look at that ax placement! Solid.

It's funny how excited you get when you 

know you have a good hold. It makes this wonderful

"thunk" sound and your ax vibrates and you're like
"Yes, I win!"

This is probably a 3+ or a 4.

I had to try this one twice. The first time, I made it just about 1.5 body lengths higher than I am in the above photo. Then I lost an ax. Well, it was still in the ice, but I was a couple feet below it. It is hard to climb with one ax and just your feet. Getting the ax back wore me out, so I came back down. The second time I tried it, I got about 2.5 body lengths above where I am here, and then just nailed my knee on the ice. It hurt so flippin' bad that I had to come down. Good thing it was about 2:15 by that time and we were done at 3:00, because I could only do one more easy climb since my knee was so tender to the touch. Don't worry, it's ok now. 

So, 7 hours, 5 ascents, and 1 minor injury later I was done with my first ice climbing venture. I would love to go again. If someone would give me 2k worth of free gear, that is. Guess I'll have to wait for the festival next December!

...in which injury is added to insult.

I ran 8 miles on my lunch hour. It has been quite warm the last few days, so there's a lot of slush happening on the roads. Add in a 50 mph speed limit on the road I run on and you have one very road sludge covered runner. Not a super huge deal. I mean, that's just kinda what you get when you run on slushy days. At least I didn't fall on the massive amount of ice that has not yet melted.

At least, not until I got back to work. I went to my car to get my water bottle and bam, I'm on the ground.

Tomorrow I'm taking an all day clinic and learning how to ice climb. Today's experiences don't really bode well for tomorrow's activities...

...in which I am attacked by a vampire.

Or so it would appear from the needle holes in my arm. Things you don't want to hear while having blood drawn include, but are not limited to:

"Hmmm..."
"Well, that's not quite working."
"Guess I missed! Let me try the other vein."

Thanks, nurse practitioner. Please don't ever come near me again with sharp implements. Thank you... for nothing.

...in which I walk in a winter wonderland.

Yesterday I skied for 8 hours at Big Sky. I didn't take a camera. My apologies. It was incredible though. Trees and bowls and powder and sunshine and all good things that come with skiing in the west. My legs hurt. My arms hurt. My face and lips are chapped. And I loved it. Every minute. Even the minutes spent falling, haha.

I'm dogsitting yet again to help feed the famine victim that is my bank account. The sun is out and I wanted to avoid homework, so Daisy and I went for a short hike. Check it out!

Hey Daisy, what's shakin'?

Snow, snow, snow. 8 inches this past Friday.

Winter came early this year.

Oh gosh, it's fuzzy. Well, it's hard to see your camera screen with 

the sun and the snow and the glare.

 Rocks. And snow. I should be more creative with both

photo subjects and titles.

This is the same rock, but in the summer. And at a slightly 

different angle. And with Brian on top of it. 

Surprise cameo from Brian!

...in which I am surprised. And terrified.

I thought we were supposed to get an inch of snow overnight. Hah. Wrong! This is the top of my car complete with all the snow that fell overnight. And is continuing to fall.

Know what the worst part is? It stayed pretty warm temperature-wise, so the roads are slick. And I mean super shiny slick. So I'm driving to work. Slowly. Like 20 miles an hour max. And what do I see out of the corner of my eye? 2 freaking deer and a big ol' buck, sprinting through a field toward me. Oh, super, because of course the Chevy has superior stopping capabilities on this ice floe of a road I'm on. So I'm attempting to brake, a giant truck is coming toward me, and large animals are running across the road. After going perpendicular for a moment, I've successfully righted myself and stopped. Yes!

But my commute is not over, oh no. Now it's time for the busiest road, which normally has a speed limit of 70. Because in Montana we like to drive fast on our two lane highways. There's a lot of state to cover. Now, most people today are actually driving in a speed appropriate to the conditions. Except, of course, the SUV behind me. Let me remind everyone... 4 wheel drive does NOT mean that you can drive as fast as you want. And you are freaking me out by tailgating me. I almost killed a herd of deer and now I'm being tailgated. Great.

What's this? Here's my turn, see ya SUV! Oh... they haven't plowed the road to work. Lucky for my low-clearance car there are enough tracks to get almost all the way to work. Then I hit my last turn. At this point, I'm going where no vehicle has gone before. Or at least not for the past 12 hours. And suddenly I have ceased moving. No, Chevy, we have to get through this! We're 200 yards from the door of the warehouse. Come on. I can't park in the middle of the road! Reverse, forward, reverse, forward, and we're back in business.

Basically, I just plan on staying at work all weekend. I'm not driving in this nonsense again. And to think, I actually considered getting up and running before work, hahahahaha. Silly Lisa.

...in which I block out the sunshine.

Out of necessity, not because I want to. See, the warehouse I work in has these giant garage doors that let in a lot of light and are quite drafty. Things that aren't good for artifacts include light and temperature fluctuations. So, with the help of my assistant J, we have covered 2 out of the 3 doors so far. Hopefully next week my dataloggers will report back that these curtains are helping regulate temperature and relative humidity. Otherwise I'm not sure what we'll do...

This is what we started with. Do you know how many flies got trapped up in that brown paper? More than I could count. Clean up was, in a word, disgusting.

There's J, on the lift! There was a lot of up and down, up and down all day. 2 curtains took almost 5 hours. Lots of hammering, lots of safety pinning, lots of duct taping.

And here's our finished product. Success! Well, hopefully. Success is TBD.

There you go. This is what I do for work. Construct giant curtains. Sweep up bugs. Monitor temperature and relative humidity. Print, cut out, and glue down tiny numbers that look like this:

 so that I can sew them onto things like this:

Museum life is glamorous, no?