A good amount has happened in the last week! We have been busy. Early in the week we went to (finally) apply for passports. We don't have any out of country trips planned, but we would like to start planning some! We went to the Post Office to have them file the paperwork and take our pictures. My first picture was terrible, God awful, and I almost didn't get it redone. The people pleaser that I am didn't want to inconvenience the person taking care of us, but this picture could NOT be what was on my passport for the next 10 years. The second picture was exceptionally better. I went from looking like a linebacker to myself. I will not share that embarrassing picture on here, but I'm sure if you ask my husband, he will 100% take the picture out of his wallet (that he promised he threw away) and show you.
Alanna went to Youth Group again on Wednesday. While the kids were there, we met our friends for a celebratory drink to celebrate her new job offer. This is the year of manifesting what you want and going after it! Want a new job? Manifest! Want to travel more? Manifest! Want to make more money to fund your traveling more? Manifest! Obviously, hard work pays off, but I'm starting to believe that half the battle is the right mind set. Put positivity out there, and positivity will come back to you!
Brandon met with another dog walking client for Thursday and Friday. He came home to let me know that the woman he met reminded him of Grandma. She had baked goods everywhere in preparation for her family to visit.
Brandon walked D.C (the wiener dog) Thursday, and there was a cinnamon roll left for him on the counter. Then Friday morning the woman cancelled because she was in the hospital and her family has the dog. Of course, I need Brandon to check in on her. I need to know that she is doing ok. He also owes her another walk because she paid him already.
Friday was my first flex Friday, and I was so excited that I had a million and one things lined up to do. Of course, I forgot to factor in that it is only one day, and I am not super woman, but I did get somethings accomplished. I started out my morning by NOT sleeping in because I struggle to wake up early for work, but on days off I pop out of bed super early! Then I went grocery shopping by myself. By. Myself. It was nice. I came home and prepped dinner for later (lazy pierogi) and then Alanna and I met our friends at the skate park to soak up some sun. Brandon took a nice long ride on the motorcycle to scout out some outdoor climbs in preparation for Saturday.
Dana came over Friday to take Alanna to get her own set of skates for derby, and then she stayed for dinner. I also wanted to try my hand at making cinnamon rolls, so that's what I did for dessert. For the most part, they came out great! Good flavor, nice texture, but the oven is different than regular ovens and the rack was too low causing the middle portion of them to burn on the bottom. I will pause for you to get your composure thinking about those glorious MIDDLE cinnamon rolls NOT being perfect. I even put these in a rectangular pan to make extra middles, because those are everyone's favorite, and it failed. I forget what we gave as a success rate for the cinnamon rolls, but it wasn't a super logical mathematical rating. While we were trying to figure out what went wrong, I said, "but I rotated them" and Alanna said, "but when you rotate the pan the middle is still the middle." She is smart, and that makes sense. The problem was actually that the rack was too low to the heating element, but her theory makes sense. Our smarty pants. Dana and Alanna left after dinner. Alanna slept over her Titi Dana's so Dana could take her to derby practice in the morning. After practice Alanna went back to Dana's, and while Dana was studying Alanna made her lunch. I wasn't there, but I'm sure it was precious!
Saturday is one of our favorite days so far. Brandon and I finally rock climbed REAL rocks, outside, at Death Valley. Brandon connected with some local climbers via Facebook groups, and we met up with them. We were both nerves and excited all morning. We had our gear packed, we had some snacks, we were ready to go! The way you get to a climbing spot is called the approach, which is basically the hike you have to take to go climb. Climbing didn't scare me, but the approach did. I fell three times total on the approach. Once going up, once moving to a new climbing spot, then once when we were almost at the end of the path. I was three feet to the paved path and let my guard down. I fell right on my dupa in front of people walking by. Did I really care that I fell in front of people? No. I just got done climbing a 100ft rock.
The climbing: We had five of us total, so we broke up into two groups for climbing. Brandon was initially with one person; I was with two. There are multiple ways to climb outdoors, we basically used two ways: sport climbing and top rope. In a nutshell, the first-person sport climbs up and then set up a top rope system. I climbed second with the top rope and cleaned the route (took the sport clips off). Then the third person sport climbed up after me and removed the top rope system at the top. We did this a couple of times on different climbs. I cannot explain how it felt to get on my first wall, a 5.8, and climb all the way to the top of the climb. It was a lot of mixed emotions and feelings: happy, excited, and accomplished to name a few. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be gearing up to climb these beautiful mountain sides. We are pushing ourselves to have the experiences, do the things we want to do, and be the best version of ourselves.
After a couple of climbs we moved to another area to climb. That walk over was a doozie. You are walking on the edge. One slip up and you are tumbling down pretty far. There were more climbers at the next climbing spot. Experienced climbers that were having the time of their life. They brought their dog, who was so well behaved, and they were just having fun. The one woman was loading up with the sun block - that sun was out, and it was fierce. Her friend asked if he could use it and being the super pale person she was she was hesitant. She said, "I go through a can a day, and this is the only one I have." So, me being me I offered my sunblock to this guy. Before I could warn him about Mineral sunblock, he had quite the amount on his face already. If you have ever used mineral sunblock, you know exactly where this is going. Although mineral sunblock (or at least this brand) is Hawaii approved, and better all-around to use, it is thick and does not blend in whatsoever. This person tried to blend, but it didn't work. All of his friends were laughing, we were laughing, and although I felt slightly bad, we couldn't help but keep laughing. His face was tinted a slight purple, he may have looked deceased. I didn't know whether to apologize or say you're welcome for the sunblock... he was protected from the sun, but not the laughs. I think he was a good sport about it, but he very well could have been cursing me after we left. Either way, it was good laughs.
Friday night we went to a Halloween party at one of Dana's friends' house. There is not one picture of my costume from that night, but I dressed like Ace Ventura from the scene where he goes to the mental hospital in a tutu. I don't normally pat myself on the back, but it turned out pretty great. Brandon was a Cereal Killer; we took a Frosted Flakes box and put knives through it. Pretty great costumes for last minute. The party was quaint, but so fun. We played drinking games, but as adults do, we didn't comply with the actual drinking part. We played beer pong, but the cups had water and we kept forgetting to drink when we were supposed to. Dana and I were teammates a couple of times, and we would make great strides and comebacks, but could never win together. The music was on point as well, so there were many dance breaks. We all played a card game called Asshole, which is evidently a game played in Buffalo, but we didn't know it. We learned pretty quickly though! Don't ask how to play, we cannot explain it. It is a drinking card game, but once again we didn't really follow the drinking part. There is a President, a VP, some people between, then the VP asshole, and the asshole is the last person with cards in their hand. There were so many laughs that by Sunday we couldn't figure out if we were sore from climbing or laughing. Either way, it was a great day all around.
Sunday Brandon and I had to GSD (get shit done) around the RV in preparation for winter. We ordered skirting that had to be installed. Brandon did most of the prep work during the week, and then the three of us put the vinyl tarping up. This will help to insulate the bottom of the RV and keep it warmer inside. It went smoothly, and Alanna was a great help. She was in charge of finishing the snaps. Once again, our smarty pants, figured out a way to secure the snaps without hurting her fingertips. If you try to just put it on with your fingers, your fingers will be sore before you are done. There are a lot of snaps on this RV. After the skirting was up, Alanna and I went to get pumpkins (finally). We picked out two amazing pumpkins, and now we just have to carve them!
Things we learned:
- If you don't like your passport picture and have the opportunity to change it - DO IT
- You want it? Manifest
- Flex Fridays are GREAT!
- Rock climbing actual rocks is amazing - amazing doesn't even do it justice
- You can be the President and ten minutes later the asshole (I guess in the game and in life?)
- Hanging out with your sister is pretty great
- The oven rack cannot be on the lowest level, especially for baking
Much Love and Happy Times,
The Blackshire's
Some of you might not be ready for winter this early, but we are getting very excited. There is snow on the mountain tops, and Winter Park opens today! A-Basin opened last Sunday with one run. We will be skiing within the next couple of weeks!
