Danger, Canyons Ahead

Time for a repost of a lovely (and horrifyingly scary) part of my life...

This is the story of  the craziest/scariest/most dangerous/most ridiculous thing I have ever done. I got a bloody nose, a horrid concussion, a massive bruise, a messed up shoulder, and a lot of grief from my mom.

And what exactly was this terrifying event? Drum roll please…CANYONING.  Here is a Wikipedia blurb to give you a little bit more info about what exactly that means: “Canyons that are ideal for canyoning are often cut into the bedrock stone, forming narrow gorges with numerous drops, beautifully sculpted walls, and sometimes spectacular waterfalls. Canyoning gear includes climbing hardware, static ropes, helmets, wetsuits, and specially designed shoes, packs, and rope bags.” Basically canyoning involves descending a river or stream that cuts through rock to form a canyon. There is no way out of a canyon other than DOWN or via an airlift helicopter.

Any why would I put myself through such torture? I like to chalk it up to pure and innocent ignorance. Basically I had no idea what I was getting into. Here is a teaser photo just to get the story going…

Yes, that is me jumping off a waterfall. Totally freaking out.

In September 2007 I took a delightful and once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe all by my lonesome. Just me, lots of travel books, a plan, a Eurail Pass, and the extreme need to just see it all. I can’t really put the fabulousness of that trip into words, but I would kill for the opportunity to do it again. Anywho, one of my favorite stops on the trip was Interlocken, Switzerland, the adventure mecca of Europe. Not only was the scenery AH-MAY-ZING…

See?!

…the opportunity for extreme adventure also got me hooked on all things Swiss. I managed to meet a small  group of Australians also staying in my *sweet* hostel (Balmers Herberge) and we quickly became friends. These three guys were traveling around Europe to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of one of the mates and they were keen to throw some adventure into the trip (like my use of Aussie lingo on that one?!). Over drinks one evening, we they managed to get hooked on an “infomercial” playing on the closed circuit television in the bar. In this ad, happy looking 20-somethings were shown leaping off miniature waterfalls, swimming around in rock pools, and cheerfully laughing at themselves in ridiculous wetsuits. All the while surrounded by the splendor of the Swiss Alps. The tag line of the ad encouraged backpackers to try out this activity, canyoning, as it was suitable for people of all levels of athleticism. The Aussies were instantly sold but I was still itching to try ice climbing. The next day we ended up looking into canyoning a bit more and I found out that ice climbing was cancelled due to non-ideal conditions. Thanks to this change in my plans, I ended up telling the Aussies to go ahead and sign me up for their canyoning trip. Unbeknownst to me however, they signed up for the EXTREMEINTENSEINSANECRAZYHARDRIDICULOUS trip…the trip NOT for the faint of heart, the trip that required a high level of athleticism, NOT the trip we saw on TV. Here is the blurb from the website:

Chli Schliere
The most thrilling extreme canyoning in Switerland. This canyon offers a series of 10 meter high jumps, vertical and corkscrew natural water slides.

• Only for very fit, sporty or experienced canyoners!
• Duration - 6 Std
• Age limit 18 years & over
• Start Times 8.15
• Price sFr. 185 .- P.p

Of course, I didn’t realize this until 6am the next morning when we all met to leave for the trip and I was the ONLY girl signed up. The trip leaders looked at me like I was insane but I tried to play it off like I was actually prepared. In all actuality I had NO CLUE why this trip was deemed more intense and professional than the one on tv, but I was soon to find out.

We arrived at the top of a mountain (literally) after driving through Switerland for almost an hour. At this point the guides briefed us to let us know that the trip would last approximately 4 hours (!!! I almost died) and that once we started we could not turn back. The only way out was to jump our way from waterfall to waterfall or be helicoptered out for an emergency rescue. Oh and also people had died canyoning before thanks to flashfloods that got them trapped in the canyon walls (hence the panic I got from my mom when she found out that I had skipped ice climbing in favor of a death swim). Oh lovely day.

Anyways, the rest of the story can be explained in pictures. I ended up surviving but got pretty beat up (i.e. a concussion and a bloody nose). After the whole debacle I had planned to take a train up a mountain to stay at the highest hostel in all of Europe. I managed to make it halfway up the mountain and then ended up stumbling around a tiny village looking for a place to stay. I was so concussed that I thought I was going to die. I managed to find a tiny inn and got a really nice room thanks to my utterly pitiful request for help. And then I slept for 14 hours straight.

Here we go…(our helmets had names so they could identify us. I am SEXY…annoying I know)

Completely and utterly terrified. I'm 4th from the left.

Hands up to avoid hitting the rockwall with my face. Now is also a good time to mention that we had a photographer a long with us. Part of the perks of doing the death swim.

Jump. Slam back against rock wall. Avoid landing on rock face. Land in tiny pool the size of a tire.

They MADE me to a flip off this canyon. 

And then I smacked my face and got a nosebleed and a concussion. Yes that is blood all over my face.

The rest of the jumps are a daze. I was concussed and totally running on adrenaline. A very weird kind of out of body experience.

Perspective. One of the "medium-high" jumps. Uggg scary. 

I don't mesh well with water. I had to hold my nose for basically every jump. I kind of forgot how to breathe.

Looking back I guess I had a good time. I mean it is cool to be able to say that I did that but I would NEVER do it again. So if you are ever in the Interlocken area be sure to check outhttp://www.swissalpineguides.ch/ if you dare...

January Cupcakery: Root Beer Float Cupcakes

This month's New Year's Resolution cupcake was ROOT BEER FLOAT cupcakes. I found the recipe here and I followed it as exactly as I could. Not sure why my pictures look so much uglier though. I am thinking that I didn't use enough glaze. Oh well, easy fix.

Also, making this recipe made me realize that I am a VERY messy baker. I'm pretty sure I used every bowl, measuring spoon, and measuring cup in the entire house. Not really sure how that happened, but I'm sure I'll get less A.D.D. from month to month.

As for taste, these cupcakes tasted a little weird to me. That might be because I ate one of the first ones out of the oven and it was a little under cooked. I made 3 batches (or at least I put 3 different pans into the oven) and they significantly improved each time. I am a huge root beer fan so I was hoping they would taste a little more root beer-ish. The only thing I couldn't find was root beer schnapps, so that may have had something to do with it. Brian said they tasted like really yummy bran muffins. Ummm, ok? Don't know about that one...

I started out with these ingredients:

Throw all this in a bowl, mix, bake, and YUM. Ok, maybe a bit more complex than than...

Then I made a massive mess and ended up with this:

I definitely overfilled the cups, but the recipe said I should fill them higher than I thought. Apparently I am already an over-filler so these ended up majorly spewing over the sides. Also, I think I undercooked this batch. Oops. But then again, the recipe called for me to pour a little bit of root beer over each cupcake after they came out of the over, so that probably made them soggy. I ended up eating that ugly one on the bottom left.

After making the glaze and the buttercream (pretty easy, yay!) I added the final touches and came out with these:

Ugly but kind of yummy.

Just like a root beer float, kinda.

Overall I would give this recipe a 7 out of 10. It was decently easy to follow and the end result was yummy. I still wish they tasted more root beer-ish and I wish that I had root beer barrels to put on top (I used those little cola things instead).  I also need to work on my baking skills; that will probably make this whole one-recipe-a-month thing a bit easier.

Chowing down.

Next month I plan on making DARK CHOCOLATE RED WINE cupcakes. How good does that sound?! And now I need to find someone who wants to eat 24 root beer float cupcakes...

Fifty Five Senses

Holy yowzers I have reached 50 WHOLE FOLLOWERS!!! Seriously I heart you people. I know my friends and fam read this blog (which is wonderous...I love you all), but I also love the fact that I am able to provide a bit of entertainment for random people all over the globe. So keep on keepin on!!! Really, I'm blushing..

And now I will provide you with my take on "five senses Fridays", one of those "meme" things.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself....

Right now I am Tasting...A delicious Malbec. My wine of choice. Not sure of the brand and I'm a bit too lazy to get up and check, but I promise it's good.

Right now I am Hearing... Brian's annoying laugh as he watches some stand-up comedy thing on the computer. I really can't explain to you how annoying it is to have someone laugh and random moments . I can't see what he is watching so I just have to suffer through the laughs. (I am also currently turning the volume up on the TV to drown out said laughs).

Right now I am Smelling... Mr. Chips' gross breath. He keeps yawning and invading my personal air space. He looks like this:

Stench attack!!

Hopefully he is just yawning and not planning to latch on to my neck

Ok now we are crossing the line.

Right now I am seeing Seeing...this computer screen obviously. And sort of watching HGTV at the same time. Although I must say I'm not a huge fan of "The Unsellables." This chick's voice is super annoying.

Right now I am Feeling...relaxed and happy. But maybe that's just the Malbec talking. I kid. It's Friday, how can I NOT be happy?! Tomorrow I begin my New Year's resolution with a smokin hot batch of ROOTBEER CUPCAKES. Other then that, not much on the agenda, and it feels great.


Happy weekend oh loyal followers, I heart you times infinity.

Heating Paranoia

I am just gonna throw this out there. I am completely terrified that our boiler will not last the winter. We got it "fixed" less than a month ago for a very hefty price and we refilled the oil tank. It has been working well since its surgery, but I am worried that it is sucking up the oil faster then we think. I was told by the heating guy that it burns a gallon of oil an hour.
Let's put that in perspective.
Our oil tank fits about 250 gallons of oil. That is 250 hours. That is just over 10 days of heat if we have the thing running constantly. Oh and a gallon of oil is about $3.50. That is just about $900 to fill the sucker up. If the winter is another 2 months (at a minimum) that is just about 60 days. SO that would mean 6 full refills of oil, or $900x6 or $5,400. And that doesn't even include the money we put into actually fixing the darn thing in the first place.
So basically, to avoid this horrible and expensive dilemma, we keep the thermostat on 64. On really cold days the system goes on and off quite a lot, but at least it isn't running constantly.

Now the scary part...

I went down to the oil tank yesterday and tapped on it, and I swear it sounded HOLLOW. Seriously I will CRY if we are already out of oil. If that is the case, we are in for a really cold winter. Oh yes, and the little gauge thingy to tell us how much oil is in the tank is totally busted. Those things happen after 90 years. And lucky for us, the company that made the tank probably went out of business 50 years ago. Wahhhh. That's me crying.

Needless to say, the system is getting TRASHED this summer.

Oh the joys of homeownership....

Brrrr....

Am I a crazy cat lady or what?!?!!?!

Doug

One of these days I plan on adopting a sweet little pup. And his (or her) name shall be Doug. Brian wants a dog too, but he wants to name it something weird like Sir Barks A Lot. One day we will be a family of six (us, the two cats, Doug, and SBAL). Unfortunately these adoptions won't be happening any time soon, but a girl can dream right....

Could this be Doug??

Totally a Doug (and kind of like an Ewok)

Go Doug Go!!!!

In other news, I totally scored some sweet JEGGINGS the other day from H&M. Finally my boots fit properly. Seriously, if you take one thing away from this post today, go forth and buy yourself some jeggings. All the cool kids are doing it.

In other, other news, I am an XM Radio subscriber. I love it. We've had it for many years and I really don't think I could drive without it. One of the biggest perks of XM is that I can see exactly what song is playing on a wide variety of stations. This is a total necessity because I ALWAYS change the channel when any of the following bands are playing: Shinedown, Creed, Nickelback, Daughtry, or anything within that genre. All music by those bands makes me VERY annoyed. Gag.

And now for a quick recap of my four day weekend: drove to PA, went to Sixers game, drove to Atlantic City, stayed at Caesar's, shopped till I dropped at the outlets (see jeggings blurb above), drove back to PA, stayed up entirely too late dominating in Taboo (ok not really dominating) and Trivia Pursuit, watched terrible movies on demand, drove back to VA, cleaned entire house, and drank a glass of wine.

Oh and I can just say that I am such a good bargain shopper??? I spent $41 at J.Crew and ended up with 2 shirts, 2 scarves, and a necklace. That should be some kind of record.

I shall leave you with this...

"Go away wench"

"No really, go away or I'll EAT YOUR FACE"

"I'm too fat and lazy to care"

Ma Ma, Wa Wa

That's how a baby asks for WaWa.


But no, really. I could not resist sharing this photo. Try and look past the horrid quality and into those sweet little baby cheeks...

Who woulda thunk that this little chunkster would turn into such a stud...

Baywatch.

I'm biased.

This thing SUCKS.

No, really, it does. This thing sucks better than any other vacuum I've ever owned. And at under $50, it really can't get better. It is extremely powerful, light weight, bag-less, and just downright awesome. Many thanks to my dear mother for recommending it to us.

Go forth and suck, people, you won't regret it!!!

Dirt Devil Featherlite.

Bedroom MAKEOVER (so close...)

Merry Christmas to our bedroom!!!! Yes, you heard that correctly - our bedroom scored big this Christmas.  I've been dying to transform the space a la the mood board I received from YHL as a gift from Brian for my birthday (in September, ahem). So far, we've managed to get the mirror, the vase, curtains (although not the ones on the mood board...shame on me!!), and...DRUM ROLL PLEASE...my favorite part of the room...the one...the only....ORANGE RUG!!!

My parents were oh so sneeky (and they read this here blog...HI MOM AND DAD!!) so they knew it was on my agenda. So they snagged it at Ikea before Christmas and it fell into my arms (and onto my floor) on Christmas morning. And let me tell you, it is SO FABULOUS. It is pretty massive and incredibly soft. It takes up half of the bedroom floor (it is about a 20x12ft room) and looks so great with our pale blue walls (White Satin by Benjamin Moore). However, now that we have it in the room and see it next to the mirror, I am kinda loving the idea of keeping the mirror black (I'll probably be stoned for going against the advice of YHL..they are so talented!!!). I've also been having a hard time finding the turquoise accents so I've (cringe) decided to opt for a darker blue pallet. I totally LOVE the turquoise, but it is a lot easier to find things in darker blue. More on that later...

The room is still not completely done but I decided I'd go ahead and share the "before" pictures now. Basically everything in the room is a hand-me-down, but we are cool with that. We may have our own delightful abode, but we are still fresh-ish outta college and OK with taking on mom and dad's old stuff. So, please prepare yourself for the schmorgesborg that is our old bedroom...

Old bed from my parents, quilt from Crate and Barrel (also from parents), nightstands from Ikea (that oh so perfectly match the new mirror), lamps from Ikea, rug from Ikea, shades came with the house, throw pillow from Pier1, Mac from www.apple.com, incredibly annoying alarm clock from Brian's childhood.

Chaise lounge from my grandparents, shelf from Ikea, tall table from my grandparents.

Dresser from my parents (I have big plans for it this weekend, so stay tuned), TV from 2003, art from Ikea.

The sad closet side of the room. Letter table from my grandparents, basket of laundry from the basement, bin from Target.

So there you have it, the woeful beginnings of our very first bedroom (together). Clearly it needed help and a serious furniture purge. At this point, we are probably about 75% done with the makeover and it is already looking a whole lot better. If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out YHL and all of their DIY and decor glory. Hopefully by the end of the month we will be completely done with the space and you can all swoon over it. Until then, how fabulous is the new CB2 catalogue? Our new orange rug would fit in nicely I think...

Swoonfest.

I VOWED I would never do this...

...but I actually have the Bachelor on TV right now. In case you are wondering why I've stooped to this level of reality TV, it is because I am currently attempting to complete 8 hours of online "safe driver" education to get out of a ticket I got over the summer (boo!!). What better way to pass the horrid and boring time than with a 2 hour premiere?! (oh and just to be clear, I totally jumped on the Flavor of Love (Season 1) bandwagon back in the 2000s (ha!), so this better be just as entertaining. FLAVA FLAV!!)

I have never actually seen the Bachelor, but I, like every sane/normal 20something, know what it is. From what I can gather the bachelor (Jake) is one of the losers from the Bachelorette. And that bachelorette was one of the losers from the Bachelor before that. Crazy and confusing, I know. But I guess that makes sense - you keep your viewers by transitioning nicely from one season to the next.

First, I don't understand how a hot and seemingly normal guy can end up single at the age of 31 (and he is totally and completely obsessed with finding a wife out of this...I'm sorry, but did I miss something here?! Since when are guys DYING to be engaged?! And to a women he barely knows?! The universe is crashing in!!). He is probably a d-bag or a total weirdo. For some reason I just can't comprehend how it is a good idea to allow a network like ABC to select your FINAL 25 choices for a wife (case in point, the show on after the Bachelor is called Conveyor Belt of Love. I really don't need to explain much more than that). But whatever. What interests me about this show is the fact that putting 25 (yes TWENTY FIVE) young and probably crazy women in a house with one dude is a complete recipe for disaster. ESPECIALLY if their whole purpose for being in said house is to win over ONE dude's heart. Oh and who doesn't love judging a house full of psycho women? Let the jealous rage begin!!

Mr. Chips does NOT approve of reality tv.

Heatless Necessities.

How to survive a heatless home.

+

+

Pumpkin Chai and a Space Heater. It really is all you need...

Now let's pray the heater man can git 'er done.

Another year, another decade.

This is officially the decade of marriage and babies. How crazy is that?! It actually sounds a lot crazier than it actually is. I am 25 at the moment. So, obviously, I will be 35 by the end of the decade. Wow. At the beginning of the last decade I was 15 and just learning to drive a car. Even bigger WOW.

In other news, we have been without heat for the past week. In even bigger news, the ancient system needs an absurd amount of work. Things installed in 1920 tend to start breaking 90 years later. We are opting to get the work done in an attempt to survive the rest of the winter. It is currently 49 degrees in our house and a brisk 29 outside. My little space heater is working overtime and GOD BLESS the heated kitchen floor. The heater dudes came last week but had to order some parts (I'm pretty sure they used their time machine to order everything from the '20s), so they aren't able to come back until tomorrow. Thankfully I work from home on Mondays so I will be around to hear all the bad heating news and write big checks. Uggg.

Oh and in the BEST NEWS of the day, I have nailed down my one big resolution for the year - to bake one new cupcake recipe a month (if not more). I got some silicone cupcake pans for Xmas and want to put them to good use. Also, I am going to make all the recipes from scratch. No boxed mix for this little lady. I am sort of really into cupcakery so this should be fun. It is also something that I can actually stick to since what could be more fun than baking and eating tasty treats?! Sure beats resolving to work out more.

Picture time!!!!!!! Enjoy...

Me want cupcakes.

Ringing in the decade.

Begging for treats. Sit, smack lips, lift paw. Never fails.

Happy Decade everyone!!