quick-picture-loading-study-break

So I really need to be doing some homework now, but thought I would take a break to finally upload the pictures from our first paddle of the season. We went up to Langlade, WI and stayed at the Bearpaw (the resort that got demolished by a tornado last season) The water was at really high levels which kept us rockin and rollin all weekend.

Mark drove Sean and I up in his girlfriend Jamie's Jeep. This pic shows how full a Jeep can get when three people, gear and a kayak are inside. There were TOTALLY not any blind spots...

We got dressed up in our Sunday best (i.e. spandex and neoprene)

We met up with Andrea, Rick, Mary and Andy (Craigers, Jay and wonder-pooch joined us Sunday)

Yes, that IS snow/ice on the ground!

Not once, but Twice we brought Mark's shoes down to the river when he was barefoot, so it was a colder walk for him....haha :)

"It fit LAST season..." (just kidding, the boys had some trouble bustin' into their drysuits/skirts



Workin out the kinks



eddy turn. I was sooo nervous about paddling. I completely convinced myself that I forgot how to paddle. It is something like riding a bicycle in that after so many eddy turns, peel outs and (oops) swamped boats, your body just knows what to do. Your knees subconsciously drop to the hull of the canoe as the current picks up. Your paddle- no matter if it is Bell, Mohawk or Bending Branches, performs the strokes to glide the canoe from one eddy to the next.







Candidates for 'cutest couple ever'?




This photo was taken at the first of several crazy pubs we investigated. This particular one had an eccentric waitress who was called french fries "FF's", brought our food out on paper plates and coincidently, Sean fell in love with. Other Bars included a beer bong hanging on coat rack, an electronic bean bag game, a stump carved into male genitalia on a display table, and a lone bartender (remember this was on a Saturday night) watching Godzilla and graciously turning on the photo hunt machine for us. Ahh...good times had by all.

candidates for cutest ENGAGED couple? They slept in the newlywed's nook of our cozy resort retreat (a 12x12 quaint woodsy room stuffed with seven of us) We slept soundly that night to rest up for round two of section 3 of the Wolf River on Sunday.

Super kick-ass Weekend

Kicking off the summer with a bang was the priority of this past weekend. You know the stories will be awesome when it starts with attending a college house party and ends with road stops at a casino and porn store...

Tyler was in town for the weekend and his brother Dustin had a house party.

So we had a blast!

I brought Sean along since he had never met Dustin nor Kevin. (CLearly, they got along just fine)

This was after the seven keg stands but before making out in the closet, getting roofied and puking on hot frosh.

After the cops busted the party, we headed home for a good night's sleep before a long weekend of paddling the Wolf River :)

My little buddy

My job isn't the best place to be. I feel locked in a basement for 40 hours a week (which I am). But what I actually DO love about my job is the people I work with. Not only have I gotten along with and made friends with the eight-or-so women I work with in Med records, but I've learned so much about their lives. Getting through divorce, bad relationships, raising children, losing friends and parents, moving around the country (or not moving at all)...these ladies have stories!

This cute little girl is Athena's daughter McKenzie. (the stickers were my idea) Is it weird that I get along so well with 5 year olds? I think it has something to do with having the same attention span and sense of humor.

So it begins...

"What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy.
And joy is, after all, the end of life.
We do not live to eat and make money.
We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life.
That is what life means and what life is for."
-George Mallory



Why not? I have been having trouble grasping the reality of being an adult; paying bills, working 40 hour weeks, being responsible for my actions...all of them. Never again can I use the excuse of being an experimental college student. Even if I go back to school it will never be as easy. It is stressful to think of returning to school. The homework and studying that never ends, the outrageous costs of tuition, books and time taken away from paid work. Yikes!

But, why not? The alternative to growing up is dying. and that doesn't appeal to me either. So what can I do about these problems? I guess I can try to beat the depressing thoughts and win. I can work to live, and avoid the opposite. I can control the thoughts I allow to swim through my mind.

What I want is happiness. I want to love with every ounce of life I own, and I want love to always win. I want to succeed in everything I put my heart into. I want to eat ice cream and drink wine and not feel fat because of it. I want to live every moment deliberately. I want to wake up every morning with enthusiasm and wonder about the day to come, and go to bed every night feeling exhausted and fulfilled with the knowledge that I gave it my all this time. I want the people who surround me to have these same successes.

In order to succeed, does someone else HAVE to lose?
Is this all too much to ask?
After all is said and done, why not at least try?