The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

"Once more I am roaring drunk with the lust of life and adventure and unbearable beauty." -Everett Ruess Tomorrow I leave for FreezeFeet, a gathering of canyoneers in North Wash, Utah. When Jason and I were saying goodbye this summer, he was like, "It's just four months. It will go by quickly." That was definitely not the case! I am seriously questioning my sanity at this point, because it is going to be COLD. Like, in the single digits at night. I am thankful for my friend Ray, who lent me his military sleeping gear. I am also worried about my Phoenician friends! Anyway, I am SO ready to get back in the canyons. I'm going to rock Middle Leprechaun on this trip, the canyon that has 1.5 miles of sustained stemming. And you know what else is cool? I'm always down on myself, thinking that I'm not a real canyoneer, that I'm not a real runner. But some of the people joining us at Freezefest are people who have never done Utah canyons before. An

I went to a presentation on Saturday morning to hear about some vacation club. The deal was that, if I sat through their 90 min presentation, I'd get two free plane tickets to anywhere in the continental U.S. They had us all in a group for most of it, then assigned us to individual sales people to close the deal. Here's how the conversation with my guy went: "So, Erin, where was the last place you vacationed?" "Utah." "Oh, you're a skier?" "No, I'm a canyoneer." Blank look, but recovers quickly. "Sounds great! So, let's go through a scenario to show you just how much money we can save you. If you were going to take your dream vacation, where would you go?" "Iceland." (I promise you I was not trying to be a smart ass. This was an honest answer.) "Okay... Well, I don't think we have any properties there right now... Anywhere else you have in mind?" "Um... New Zealand, I gu

Sometimes it feels like life is totally kicking your ass.  That's about where I'm at right now. It's December.  I hate December.  I got off easy last year, and this year's making up for it.   There is one thing that is consistently good right now, and that is work.  So I am going to write about that. I am on the School Leadership Team.  We had a meeting the other day, and the teachers started teasing my about my obsession with data and my stalkerish tendencies.  It is true that, once I arrive at work, I have trouble remembering social conventions and have to remind myself to say "good morning" before jumping into a conversation about data.  The ladies started teasing me about following them to the parking lot, waiting for them outside the bathroom, etc.   So I decided to live up to their expectations.  I recruited my friend Donna to help with a prank at lunchtime.  I copied tons of progress monitoring graphs, and we went out to the parking lot and stuc

I totally have a thing for mason jars... Gotta have at least a few mason jar gifts every year.   For Christmas this year, I made Rachel and Mico "Date Night in a Jar."  I decorated a mason jar with leftover valentine stuff and filled it with popsicle sticks with date night ideas.  White ones are free or almost free, pink ones cost money.   Here's a list of the dates I included.  I wanted to keep this list so I could reuse it for wedding gifts.  (Although this list is somewhat personalized for Rachel and Mico... They are brilliant in the kitchen and very artsy.) Free/almost free dates: Choose a nearby town to explore.  Bring your camera! 1,000 piece puzzle Spend an evening playing (harmless!) pranks on your friends.  End the night with your favorite funny movie/stand-up comedian. Write and/or discuss your bucket list.  Make plans to accomplish some of the items. Play a board game. (Strip?) Watch a sunrise or a sunset Bake treats and ding dong ditch your friends Mak