I'm Hoping for an Internet Porn Scandal.

That way we can stop pretending that she's a responsible choice.

I mean, what does McCain think? That we'll all say, "Oh, she's just a girl's girl! Look how pretty she is!" And that'll make us overlook the fact that she's basically a Nascar Dad (the scariest voting category) in pumps?

Yes. Yes, I think that's exactly what he's hoping we'll do.

Well no, thank you, you old goat. I'll take the other ticket with pleasure.

This McCain/Lady ticket kind of reminds me of this scenario from the Best Movie Ever.

"We have so much in common; we both love soup and snow peas and talking and not talking."


And seriously, if I hear one more Mormon-Mother-of-Eight say, "Oh, I think she's just great! She seems so relateable!" I'm going to punch her in her heavily made up face. These are the same people who voted for Bubba W Bush because, "I'd like to have him over for BBQ!"

(To whom I say, "Well, you dumbshit, unless you regularly entertain HEADS OF STATE and LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD in your double-wide at the Whispering Winds trailer park, alllow me to suggest that you might be voting for the WRONG REASONS! I don't care if W can stack 16 Pringles in his mouth at one time and then pound a 40 of King Cobra. That's NOT a quality we should look for in the POTUS.")

Harumph.

Just the same, I'll pass on the ham sandwich.*

A month or so ago, at a lovely outdoor wedding for our dear friend Bill (seen above with his pup, Magic, who was in the wedding - note Bill's new wedding Birks!), I dolled up in my vintage Lilly one-shouldered maxi dress (to die for, and I scored it on ebay for $20!!!) and showed off my tan lines (I know, I know tres gauche!).

(See? That's what I'm saying in this photo. I'm saying, "Oh no! Not the tanlines!")Here's another shot of the dress:
Honey loves a camera.

The darling 'Ber and Brett who I don't see enough. Ber, I miss you so.

Anyway, so we're at this wedding, having a great time, when a woman I know only socially runs up to me and shouts, yes, shouts, "I just figured out who you look like!"

"Oh," I say, wondering if I'm going to regret engaging her, "Who's that?"

"The lady from the Mamas and the Papas!"

"Um..." I hedge, waiting for the punchline. It didn't come. "Um, do you mean Mama Cass?" I was horrified. By now a small crowd had gathered and I was really hoping for an earthquake or moose sighting or something - anything - to change the course of conversation.

"No!" She was still shouting. "Michelle Phillips!'

(You can be damn sure that I looked for the prettiest MP image I could find. I'm THAT vain.)

Oh. OH. That was ok. That was really flattering, actually. In fact, even though I can't really see it, I was totally ok with the comparison, and decided to feel good about myself for the rest of the night.

Then, just a few minutes ago, I was surfing around on "The Look 4 Less," a totally delightful blog, and I saw this:


It's called, "The Mamas and The Papas Dress" - THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS DRESS! - and it looks remarkably like everything I've been wearing all summer - including the night of the Mamas and Papas comparison. My guess is that it didn't get its name from the wardrobe choices of Michelle Phillips'.....





* For what it's worth, I'm not a fattist, and I am not judging Mama Cass for her size. In fact, she was a beautiful, talented and successful woman. And the story about her choking to death on a ham sandwich was just a cruel rumor.

I'll take one of each, please.

Anthropologie is one of my favorite places to shop, to browse, to get fashion inspiration. Many of you feel the same way about J. Crew, and while I love, love, love its classic looks, the slightly tousled and just-in-from-the-cold feel of Anthropologie is more my style.

That said, its autumn offerings have me sitting here - in running shorts and an old t shirt, trying to work up the motivation to get out there and pound out a few miles - craving cool days and bundling against the wind and layering up and meeting friends for coffee and wearing boots with tall socks and scarves and flouncy skirts.

What can I say? I have a very specific imagination. In fact, the look of Anthro's fall line reminds me of one particular semester in college, when I met my friend, Melissa Mehler (who, ironically, is from Philly, where Anthro is based), and we sat at the coffee shop for hours and hours and ate bagels and told stories and made big plans...).

Anyway, because I swear to god I'm going to try to go running at some point today (since when does it take a crowbar to get me off the couch and into my sneakers? Why have I become so lazy?), here are a few of the pieces I'm adoring right now:

Sweatercoats seem big right now, and I love their hip-and-butt-hiding capability.
This is similar to a cardigan Anthro did last season, but it sold out before it hit the sale rack (sad for cheapo me). Maybe it's a sign....

These are a must...

Yes, please.
Love me some burgandy cords...


And I bet these pants would be super flattering...

Sometimes I Strike a Pose

My friend, the photographer Chris Noble, took these photos of me recently. I'm posting them because my mom will like seeing them (Mom, these are the only one's I've seen so far...), and it's almost her birthday, so I owe it to her.

These photos are from a shoot we did on the White Rim trail (first time Brad and I had been on mountain bikes in years). Chris's son, Wyatt was with us, and he's a badass teenager, so Brad had fun doing jumps and bmx tricks and goofing off while I muttered to myself about controlling my speed and concentrated on keeping the rubber side down. Biking is real damn scary.

Anyway, some photos for Phriday....but wait - I don't know why the color is so weird. Trust me, the real color in the photos is just breathtaking....anyone know why it looks weird here? Hope Chris doesn't see this, but Chris, if you do, please note that I'm stating for the record here that you're a genius with color and the appearance of these photos isn't representative of your style.

Mkay?

Golden Retriever Thursday

Look at my big handsome Arnold!

Ok, now I'm really back. And to prove it, a long and rambling post.

I've noticed a new trend on your blogrolls: time since last post.

This trend makes me nervous, because consistently, while others' updates read 10 minutes ago and 2 hours ago and 1 day ago, mine is more like 10 days ago and a year ago and it's been so long we think she's died.

So, I've been guilted into writing. That's not unusual, though, because it's generally an external force (guilt, deadline, mother, boss) that makes me buckle down and get to work. I'm not a self-starter, though I lie about that in job interviews. I'm not a multi-tasker, either, for what it's worth. And I don’t work well with others, and I don’t “love new challenges.” All lies for the sake of potential new bossman. Hopefully none of you ever want to hire me, because then I’ll have to delete this post.

Anyway, fear (another motivator) of losing my readers has forced me into action (left to my own devices - as you're probably learning - I'm astonishlingly sloth-like).

Also, summer's over, making it time to write. I’ve mentioned before that summer and I aren’t friends, and while that’s mostly because of its oppressive heat and the way I look in shorts (ick), it’s also because summer saps me of motivation. In my mind, I’m still a kid, so summertime is for sleeping late, going to the pool, reading magazines, watching movies and eating ice cream. It’s not – at least, in my confused brain - for working hard, writing thought-provoking blog entries, challenging myself to look hard at my feelings or anything that could/would take effort.

But early dusks and cool evenings are slowly taking over the relentless heat. In the mornings, I pull the quilt around me and sigh, finally comfortable after months of fitful, shallow sleep.

Fall heralds the return of my motivation, my industriousness. Not only do I have energy to make plans, I have the fortitude to follow through, to actually do things.

What am I going to do? I'm going to SEW.

Yep. Sew. Not climb, not hike or run, not train for ski season (though I hope to do a bit of that, too).

I want to make things out of the stacks and stacks of fabric I’m busy collecting. Want to see some of my favorites? (I’m trying to use lots of images because Buttah likes images and, let’s face it, I need to do what I can to retain readers at this point).

The new beautiful things I’m stockpiling:

1. The Yo Yo Elephant pattern, which yields both an adorable and floppy Yo Yo elephant doll as well as a stuffed elephant. All made from scraps and fat quarters.


I love it so and can't wait to make many, many of these for all my friends' new babies (it's like babies are Autumn's hottest accessory or something. Seriously, it's a damn epidemic). I've seen these Yo Yo dolls before, in fair trade catalogs and the like, and part of me feels bad - like by making these myself, I'm neglecting an indigenous woman of a sale of one of her dolls, but the truth is, mine will probably be so funny looking that my friends will buy the originals anyway, so as not to frighten their kids.

2. Alexander Henry's Daybreak fabric.


The beauty of this fabric so overwhelms me that I don't even know what to make out of it. Any suggestions? I think a nightgown could be fun. Or PJ pants. But I'd love to make something more creative, because it's such a unique and captivating print....

3. The lovely Swing Bag from the lovely Amy Butler.


It just seems perfect. Even Arnie thinks so.

4. This Bird Garland or Mobile.

The kind and adorable ladies at Philly's own Spool Sewing (cool name, huh? Their sister store, a knitting boutique, is called Loop) have generously provided this pattern for free on their website; it's so sweet it hurts my teeth, and best of all, you can create the little birds from fabric scraps and fat quarters. Bargain birds.

5. And here's my beautiful and inspirational collection of fabrics. (I hope to someday be a good enough sewer - hmmm, that spelling just doesn't look right... - to do these beautiful pieces justice.)

Brilliant fat quarters:

Pretty toiles and prints (note the Golden Retriever in the first fabric):


Um...more Daybreak in a different colorway (I'm a bit obsessed):

And some elegant embroidered pieces:

I'm so eager for the upcoming three-day weekend - the time of year that marks the end of summer and the return of fall. I'm going to sew, walk the dogs, knit, write, read and watch movies, and I. Cannot. Wait.

How are you celebrating the beginning of autumn? Also, I'd love some suggestions for sewing projects. I'm very much a beginner, but I'd love some ideas....

The Better to Get Fit In.

Patagonia is having an end of summer sale.

If you need anything - climbing and yoga clothes, ski pants, rain jackets, etc. - go here to check out the goods.

There are lots of men's and kids' stuff, too.

Now I'm back for reals.

The Outdoor Retailer trade show was fantastic. I worked hard to "build support" (read: raise ad dollars) for my company, and as I listened, in meetings and in line-for-espresso-smalltalk, to the industry buzz about what we've been doing lately, I felt really proud. People like the site; they like our movies. It seems like they want more of what we have to offer, which has me smiling and psyched about my career.

I saw some wonderful old friends at the show, and got really excited about rock climbing again. I also got pretty psyched about fashion-to-come, thanks to these sheep, who gave me some very cool clothes, via their man, Jason, and Lululemon, which invited me to a design focus group the day before the show. And after OR, I was involved in a photo shoot for Isis, a company that designs clothing for women, so I've been in the mountains for the past two days, wearing next summer's clothes to climb and play and ride my longboard and hop on Tyrolean traverses while my friend, Chris, shot photos. Arnie and Red were with me, too, playing in the water and snuggling into my sleeping bag. It was the easiest money I've ever made, and it was a great way to relax after OR. I'll share photos as I see them.

I'm back at my desk this morning, though, and about to start following up on my OR meetings.

Hope everyone's well, and now that my schedule will be a bit more normal, I'll be around to write more often.

Pictures not Words

I have been trying to write lately, but I think my brain is on summer vacation, even if my body isn't. I've done some very cool things this summer, but when I try to write about them it sounds trite and uninspired. So rather than force something bland, I'll just show you some pictures and apologize for what I can only call "August Brain."

These photos are from the Third Pillar of Dana, which I climbed a few weeks ago with 5 friends. All the photos below were taken by and belong to Kolin Powick, famous (on this blog) for all his beautiful photos of our wedding. You can see more of his stuff on his website. Kolin gets endless props for his photography skills, which he possesses along with climbing skills, guitar skills, snowboarding skills, engineering skills, dog-training skills....he's one of those remarkably capable people that you're always glad to know.

Anyhoo, here are his photographs from our recent day in the Sierra.

On the approach (L to R: Jeff, me and my scar, Brad, Jon, Alex):
Honey...
Go Honey Go!

This is Jeff, "The King," sending the breathtaking final pitch...

And Alex being a wingnut on same:

And here we are heading back out to the car and dinner. Check out the scenery; it was one of the prettiest approaches I've ever done. I kind of felt like Frodo Baggins, and not only because I was a foot shorter than everyone else....

Come on!

To anyone who thinks that Golden Retrievers AREN'T the kindest, gentlest souls on the planet, I give you this:

And the accompanying story.


I've been an awful blogger, but that's just the tip of the disastrous iceberg that has been me lately. More on that later (soon).

I think it has something to do with the fact that it's been in the high 90s and low 100s for like AN ENTIRE FUCKING MONTH. I hate hot weather and want to hide in the freezer section of the grocery store until September. Also, that's where they keep the ice cream, which has become a dietary staple. Disgusting.

I'll be back soon.