Carter :: July 2009

a few months ago we decided to get a puppy, a sweet little Italian Greyhound we named Carter.
Carter is 7 months old now, and is full of energy! he's come a long way since he first arrived.
I was able to get him to calm down enough for a few photos.


here he is at the bottom of the stairs...he LOVES running up and down the stairs.

firefighter's uniform

a good friend of mine rented an actual firefighter's helmet and jacket for a movie poster and DVD cover for his film school thesis project. I had the helmet and jacket in my possession for a few days while I helped him out with some photos and so I decided, ''let's try this baby on!" well, I gotta say, this is one heavy uniform. I broke a good sweat just walking around in it. I can barely begin to imagine what it's like wearing this around fire! so, for some Sunday afternoon giggles, and lots of respect to those men and women in uniform, here I am...

north carolina trip sep 2008

I took a couple of trips back-to-back during the end of Aug and
beginning of Sep 2008. My first trip was to Indiana (where I was born),
which was at the end of Aug 2008.

I'm hoping to post that trip some day :)

This post will be the trip I took with my sweetie Kevin, back to NC.

our first stop was Boone, NC...Kevin's hometown.

guess who was hanging out in the backyard

I was told it was a good thing I didn't touch this. cute, but has a nasty sting.

we took a trip to Grandfather Mountain

this bridge is pretty high up and swings!
some people made it across, but were too scared to walk back across it.





overheard this bald eagle was shot and after being rehabilitated back to health, was unable to fly.


look cute don't they? apparently they're not as cute as they look...
one of the keepers told us they will break your bones if you get too close.


off to see the waterfalls


here I am with Kevin (yes, he's younger than I am,
especially with that goofy haircut---I can't cut hair, but I try) :-)





Kevin said the waterfall used to be higher when he was younger.
I guess a lot of the rock eroded away.


this is looking the opposite direction from the waterfall


poisonous?





off to visit Kevin's grandmother in Newland, NC





these grow wild on her land...I think they're wild blackberries


she grows Christmas trees...lots of people out there do as well

franklin

meet franklin. he's about a year and a half now, stays up all night

and runs for miles and miles on his wheel, sleeps all day.

wildflower triathlon ~ may 2-4, 2008

anyhooo...nothing new and exciting at the present moment, so I thought I'd post about a triathlon I did back in May 2008. I didn't actual do the whole triathlon myself, I was part of a relay team...I did the bike portion. this triathlon event is actually a set of three triathlons called "Wildflower" located in Lake San Antonio, CA (which is near Paso Robels, CA). the tri I was part of was the olympic course (1.5 k-swim, 40 k-bike, 10 k-run...in miles: 0.93 mi-swim, 24.85 mi-bike, 6.2 mi-run). the three triathlons are the mountain bike course, the long course, and the olympic course.

you can read more about Wildflower here:

http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/Wildflower2008-main.htm



Mike doing the mountain bike course. this was Mike's first triathlon (wtg Mike!)


James as he's starting the 56 mile bike ride part of the long course. James did the entire long course on Saturday, then did the swim for the olympic relay on Sunday. the long course is basically a half iron man...1.2 mi-swim, 56 mi-bike, 13.1 mi-run *wow*


the start of the olympic course swim. I've never done the swim, but
from what I've been told, if you're up front, you will get slugged & slapped in the face and kicked as well. (sounds like fun huh?)


here I am back from the 24.85 mile hilly bike ride. I really pushed myself
on this because I knew I wasn't doing the 10k run afterwards :-)


Kevin (in red) as he's finishing up a 6.2 mile run part of the olympic course relay. thing about doing a relay is, the runner gets all the glory!

lake mohave - nevada arizona border

this past weekend some friends and I went to lake mohave, just north of laughlin, NV. the lake is actually the borderline between NV and AZ. did some wakeboarding, and considering it was my 3rd time going, plus the last time I went was over 3 years ago, I'd say I did pretty darn good. although, there aren't any photos of me (I didn't want sunscreen on my camera). :-) I was able to catch some nice photos of my friends Michelle & Donovan.

here's Michelle:

here's Donovan doing a tail grab

some of the scenery: