I have taken a more permanent position at Equinox which I am very excited about. Equinox is a great company with a lot of potential and I am very excited to work for them, learn from them, and help them out with what I have to bring to the table. But for some reason taking the head design position makes me feel like I just shut the door on adventure and exploration and locked the key caging myself in central PA. I have been continuing to tell myself these past couple weeks what I have told myself before - that adventure is anywhere you make it, you don't need to be on the beaches of the west coast or in the mountains of the Adirondacks, or in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky. But when I read about or interact with traveling vagabonds, " restless transplants", climber bums, surf bums, or just adventure loving people it stokes that ever burning flame inside of me to pack the essentials in quiashia and just go. Nothing is permanent or forever and I know that my adventure wont stop at being a Sherpa for La Vida, or a Climber bum in the Red River Gorge, or a designer for Equinox, there is much more out there in this great big world and I will explore it but all in due time. So for now my adventure is designing at Equinox LTD in central Pennsylvania.

visit A Restless Transplant and see if you get as inspired as I did reading through it

Even though it is cliche to say - i think that it is true for my life

2 things I know i will do at some point in my life:  surf and bum on the west coast

My very own

Today I got my very own industrial sewing machine in the Design Area!!!! Now I don't have to dance around the head designer/prototyper and figure out other things to do when she needs the machine! So exciting!!!

Such a beautiful sight:)



The Design Area: A total mess this week, its not usually this messy
but sometimes it gets a little crazy in here:)



One of my projects: Trail Gaiter makeover.
Looks like the pair will weigh a little over 4 ounces!

 


Water-proof fabric for the bottom, breathable lightweight fabric for the top,
 Elastic pull to cinch the top of the gaiter to stay in place, Velcro closure system
with secondary Velcro placement to ensure your gaiter to stays closed



Pennsylvania: The state of independence

On my drive back from Boston two weeks ago I chuckled when I drove across the state line of PA. The sign  on the side of the road welcomed me and stated Pennsylvania as the "State of Independence" I thought that was quite fitting for me and my situation in PA. Living alone with my dog in a big house, working as a designer and prototyper for a backpacking company, and being very far away from the "college scene" that I was so immersed in last year. 

I wanted to show you guys photos of my new home, and I know I promised photos a while ago, so, without further adieu: 

The Berwick House

the long drive heading down to the house that reminds me everyday that I am on it of all the times my family came to visit my grandparents for the weekend and all the wonderful memories we have in this place

the driveway and front of the house

a part of the back yard

the back of the house

 As my studio, I took over the garage in the basement, this way on nice sunny days I can open up the door and sew in the sunshine. When I first moved in, I was able to sew while sunbathing in my bikini and I couldn't think of a better place to be learning how to sew. Molly has groundhogs and squirrels to chase after and spends times watching the birds, just as I do from my sewing chair n cutting table. Molly enjoys being able to be in the sunshine and fresh air just as much as I do while I'm working on creating fun stuff:)

I think I can handle this view:)

since i don't have internet, this book, loaned to me by my coworker
has been my sewing bible for the past month. I highly recommend it.

Supplies left by my grandmother

more supplies, I will probably never be able to use it all 

what my drive home from work mostly consists of

an after work routine that molly and I have gotten into: Fetch

she has gotten quite good at it

Molly the guard dog:)

Well I hope you have enjoyed getting a sneak peek at where I'm living. You can always come visit what I like to joke and call "The KB resort":)

Red River Gorge Torrent

This past weekend was spent at my old stomping grounds: The Red River Gorge. I spent as many weekends as I could the second half of college down in KY climbing. This past weekend my old climbing buddies got a cabin at Torrent. This crag has been closed to the public for some years now due to climbers not being respectful of the private owners rules and wishes, now the crag is only open to those who pay to stay in the cabins. I went last year with this group of climbers from Columbus and loved it! Waking up and looking out your window and having the rock 20 feet from your window- SO great!!

we got the climber's cabin:)

the view from my bed- looking at the warm up climbs for the day

the door to the "climbers cabin"

the gear stash outside

one of my favorite climbs in the red. Name: "pocket pussy" - the guys loved this one and never ran out of jokes for it

warm up for the day

Within the first 15 feet Kentucky rock showed me how angry it was that I had left it for 6 months without a note, phone call, or even a visit. I, somehow, in my attempt to get back in the zone, stupidly grabbed for a draw and got the end of my pinky caught inbetween the bolt and the caribiner on the draw. I blame it on not climbing for so long and feeling a little freaked out for some reason, but I re-learned the lesson to keep your hands away from metal even if your taking a break on your warm up while top roping.

nightly festivities in the cabin

the two boys that came along, sported their Halloween costumes to show us all, we had a ripped spiderman and  a ninja climbing around the cabin all night:)

my friend and i that didn't have too much time to plan, went to Rock House cafe that just opened for breakfast both days. It was delicious. A little more upscale than other places geared towards climbers but still really nice. Along with Miguels pizza shop, you should try this place as well.

"group photo" minus 5 people including the two little boys that came for the weekend

Overall great weekend. I am just as sore from laughing as I am from climbing. I realized just how blessed I am to have such a loving and supportive community of climbers in Columbus. I hope to be able to cilmb with them for many years to come.

Pedal People

http://vimeo.com/31179676

check out this video about the world of cycling. I dont know too much about cycling but the little that i have experienced the cycling world I have enjoyed it and wanted to have more of it. maybe one day, bikes are expensive. This video helps give an insight into the world of cyclists

i found it on the Prana Blog today while I was surfing round.

Adventures with Quiashia

So I don't know if I have introduced you guys to Quiashia.

She is quite a good friend of mine. When I first laid eyes on her I knew that we be great friends. The first time we spent some time together we hit it off. We have been on many trips and have gotten to know eachother pretty well since last spring when we decided to commit to eachother and support eachother no matter what state we were in. I took her "camping" in the Gordon area (a school  little North of Boston) this past weekend to visit friends, and  we had a lot of fun together. So I figured you guys should meet her since she means so much to me and is such a big part of my life.

 The closte/bedroom/livingroom and kitchen table and pantry

One of my favorite breakfasts

And a Beautiful view out the bedroom/kitchen window:)

A beautiful weekend made possible by my trusty toyota truck named Quiashia.

Over the Rivers and Through the Woods to Grandma's House I Go

It has been ages since the last time I wrote. I have spent the whole Summer and then some working for a program called Lavida. It was my third year being involved and my second full summer as a "sherpa" (or trip leader) The summer was filled with many new challenges and struggles, but as many times as I felt challenged and pushed I felt an equal amount of times where I felt very blessed to have such an opportunity to serve and love everyone that I came into contact with. Ive sat here for quite a while typing and then deleting ways that I want to communicate what the summer has meant to me, and to tell you the truth, it has meant so much that i cant communicate it right now. When you are a sherpa you are supposed to be drawing kids closer to God through the wilderness and through the La Vida experience but, truth be told you are learning just as much or even more about yourself, your life, and your walk with God. I stayed after the typical summer and did two extra trips this summer so I ended in late Sept.

My next adventure is my last requirement for school - an internship. I am now the intern for a company called Equinox. They are based out of Williamsport P.A. and they manufacture everything in the US which is quite rare in the outdoor world! Instead of hearing me blabber on about them check em out for yourself! I am living at a house that my grandparents own, but since my grandfather passed away and my grandmother in a nursing home a couple of years ago, it is just my dog and I living in the house. It is a great house with great view of some of the surrounding fields and farms. I will get some photos up soon. So I am very excited to see how this internship plays out because so far equinox has been great and very flexible and open minded to anything I have to offer. I am working on their outdoor gear line and re-working a lot of their products. I will be getting some photos up here soon so that you will be able to see what I'm doing.

So a totally new and different challenge for me: learning to sew, having an hour commute to work rather than a 3 minute walk, living alone, and designing gear but most definitely an exciting adventure.

Climbing and Cycling

This weekend I opted out of doing a long day trip (5am-10pm) to the Red in KY and stuck around ohio to catch up on some rest and be ready to go for the next week of school. Some-times the day trip can really throw you off since its such a long day with 6-7 hours of driving, and a lot of climbing. Instead of focusing on climbing all weekend I switched it up a little bit with some other forms of fun training. Sat morning I did a 5miler with a couple of friends, and in the afternoon I planned on playing ultimate frisbee, but unfortunately we didnt have enough people to put together a real game so we just tossed the frisbee around. On Sunday I headed to a friends house and we biked to Scioto Audobon climbing wall and spent the day there in the sunshine n 84 degree weather. It was so nice to finally have nice weather in Ohio, the last couple weeks I have only experienced nice weather traveling outside of OH, but it was perfect - windy enough to make it not feel like 84 but still sunny and beautiful. 

Scioto Audobon's Climbing wall also called "Whittier" by most of the locals, islocated a little off of front street in downtown columbus. They have imitation rock and some climbing holds on as well, so climbers have the option of climbing "natural features" or using the holds. There are two or three lead routes that require only 6 draws (i believe), and the rest are top rope. In order to set up the top ropes you have to "bolder up" an 8-10 foot section in the back, and while wearing your harness, clip in a set of slings to the cable that runs throughout the top of the wall and run your rope through whatever climb you want. There are also some spots here that are just bouldering sections that are pretty fun.

Here's a photo of one of those boulder only sections. This is usually what I end up doing here when I go because I am not patient enough to wait for and open spot on the top rope climbs. This wall has gotten very popular among the climbing crowd in columbus, especially since it is FREE to climb there, you just need your own gear. I climbed here more last spring when it hadn't gotten as popular yet. I love the idea of being outside in the sun climbing only 15 minutes away from my apartment, but the "imitation rock" and holds have all gotten pretty slimey and you have to be careful with the holds because they tend to spin pretty easily. I've heard rumors that this is due to the lack of volunteers willing to tighten the hold and help clean em off, apparently the climbing wall itself is all volunteer run, except for the rangers that drive by and make sure no one is climbing after it closes. I might be spoiled with super frictiony and sticky rock with only climbing in the spring and fall because of my summer guide job at La Vida, but its too slimey for my tastes, and like I said before it does get very crowded on nice days. Most of the time I can spend a whole day here and just end up socializing more that I do actually working out. So if I'm looking for a day of fun climbing in the sun with friends I'll go here, but if I really want to focus on training and getting a really good workout I'll head to trusty old VA, where I always seems to leave sore, especially on the slow days where there are not as many people to distract me from my work out.

The bike ride was my first long ride, it was about 10 miles each way and we biked with all our climbing gear for the day there. I was thankful to have to fight the head wind on the way there, so that on the way back, when we were tired of climbing all day, we had a tail wind to help us out a little bit. But the overall pace of cycling I must say is really refreshing and I can see how it can be addicting. Its nice to be able to cover 10 miles no problem, in a short amount of time. Its such a big difference than running/walking/hiking, and so much less strain on your body it seems. I finally understand why it has gotten so popular with the younger crowd recently. I have been wanting to try it our for quite some time, but havent had the chance to. I thoroughly enjoyed it and could totally see myself getting into, I just need to quit buying climbing gear for a while so i can save up enough money to get a decent bike. The bike that I rode on yesterday was worth 1200$ new, 200$ less than what I paid for my truck. Its really expensive, but if you use that as your way to get around the city, it is essentially your car, especially if you live in a city where you don't get that much snow or bad winter weather.

If you haven't tried it yet, find someone you know with an extra or older bike and try it out. Its an awesome way to get some exercise, get outside, and go exploring your city or anywhere you feel like that day. Careful though, you might start having to survive on a diet of ramen noodles to afford a good bike.

Spring Break Trip:)

Instead of Blabbering on about my Spring Break trip to Foster Falls Tennessee and Huntington State Beach Park I decided to just tell you the story through photos.

  

Overall Great trip. Lots of laughter, sun, and new experiences.

Was A perfet Last-spring-break-ever trip.