LaughAloud

Happy Birthday to Chip!

There have been a couple times over the last several years I haven't gotten to spend Chip's birthday with him. But in the past, I've missed his birthday because I'm away briefly for a conference, not because I'm actually living somewhere else. So even though I'll get to see him and celebrate with him this weekend, it's still different somehow. I've been thinking about him a lot today & how wonderful he is. Here's one of my favorite pictures of him from our trip this summer, eating in a little cafe in Edinburgh.

Happy Birthday, Chip!

Cookie Cookie Cookie

This evening, in the kitchen, I put away the dinner left overs while Chip put away the freshly baked cookies. Under his breath he sang 'C is for Cookie..C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.' Then he turned to me and with all apparent seriousness asked: 'Do you know that song?' I couldn't stop laughing and laughing and laughing. And I love that Chip makes me laugh so much. It makes life so much better.

Home on the Range

I'm finally shooting again! I'm taking it slow and only allowing myself to go out once a week for the two hours of my competitive archery class, but that is still better than nothing. I've only gone out twice so far, once this week and once last week, but I'm feeling really good and felt like I've come back better and more focused even if I need to build a little bit of my back and shoulder muscles back up. My twitter post from right after my first time back out at the range sums up nicely how I feel about being back at it: "So much fun @ archery today!!! Always feel so alive after shooting & have really missed it! Plus coach says I look great for 2 months off!"

One thing that I love about going out to the range, is that on top of shooting, I'm often outside at my favorite time of day. Being still, in one place near the end of the day and watching the world change and glow and cool around me while doing something I love. Other than shooting it is rare that I spend several hours outside in one place near the end of the day. There is something about the last hours of light and the start of twilight that is so calming but also full of energy and life. It feels like the best time to be still and so much of archery is about being still, being at peace but also controlling the power in your body, in your bow and the twilight hours for me are really the time of day that brings those things together in the world.

When I wasn't shooting after surgery, at first it was an issue of physically not being able to. It wasn't just not being able to stand, but the tremendous energy it took to do anything while my body was working hard to heal. While I wasn't shooting, I did a fair amount of reading about archery, watching archery videos, thinking about archery. But having already resigned myself to not being able to shoot, I was able to do all these things without feeling an overwhelming desire to shoot. But now, I get to campus early and start my day spending 30 minutes in the coffee shop reading a chapter from Inside the Archer. On the shuttle to work, I watch videos from World Cup archery matches. And I want to go to the range and shoot. I can barely wait till next week when I get to go again.

Even now, as I've started shooting and am walking more and more, I get more tired from physical exertion than before my surgery. The healing is a slow process and so I'm trying to listen to my body and let myself heal while slowly getting back to my regular life. For now, I'm only allowing myself to go to the range once a week. It doesn't mean I don't do things other days to practice and work on my form, but its still not the same as being out on the range. Especially during the days last light. Sometimes slow can be so hard, but I know I'll be glad for taking it slow when my ankle is finally healed.

A Bow of My Very Own

Year in Review #5

When I moved up from my beginner bow, my coach was nice enough to lend me an old bow of his wife's to use while I saved up money to buy my own. It is quite a fine bow, but I must admit, I figured once I bought a bow I would have it for years (for life?) and I didn't want my bow to be pink. I know, I'm a color snob.

Finally in November I had the money and had decided what bow I wanted.  It was a brand new model, just released. I ordered it and waited. And waited. And waited. I hoped it would come in time for the competition in February, but it didn't. I visited the model at the trade show portion of the Vegas Shoot. It was SO pretty. I couldn't wait! But I did. For another month and a half. Finally, near the end of March my bow arrived. And it is beautiful and light and wonderful.

If you look closely, you'll see my sight is red & black to match the bow. In May, I added red hair to match & in June I added a red & black string. Not to mention my black arrows with the red fletching & my red & black quiver. I do so love my red & black setup! Hey, however I score, at least I'll look good doing it! ;)

Las Vegas

Year in Review #3

Ever since we moved to California, we've said we should really take a trip out to Las Vegas. As it turns out there is a huge archery competition & trade show every year in Vegas & it seemed like the perfect opportunity. My first archery competition & our first trip to Vegas all rolled into one.

Imagine the great ballroom of an old Vegas hotel (The Riviera to be exact) complete with gaudy carpets. Now imagine targets lined up on two sides, with chairs & stands in the middle and hundreds of archers lined up on either side, 18m in front of the targets. On top of that, this is just one of four shooting slots during the day, which means at the same time, hundreds more archers are walking around the casino floor wearing quivers full of arrows and possibly carrying their bows around as well. It was a pretty surreal  scene.

We arrived in Vegas on Thursday evening & went down to check out the shooting scene. The actual competition was three days of shooting, Friday-Sunday, but Thursday was a practice day, so there was already plenty of archers down in the ballroom shooting. That evening I saw 2 of the US Olympic Team members and during the coming days I saw the other 3. It was super cool, especially after watching them shoot in the Olympics just a few months before. That's one of the coolest things I've found about archery so far. People of all levels shooting at the same tournaments, which means you can watch and learn from the shooting of the top people in the sport. Pretty cool :)

Shooting Day 1: I was SO nervous. Sweaty palms. Not to mention I had to start shooting at 7am. Good thing we were staying in the same hotel as the shoot. I shot 170 out of 300. Not as good as my practice scores, but I thought not bad for my very first experience in competition shooting.

Shooting Day 2: Saturday I was feeling better. Shooting started a little later,  I was more awake & knew what to expect after shooting a full round the day before. My first shot was good. The next one less so. Then I missed. I didn't just miss the target, I missed the entire huge bale. Then I missed again & again. I was starting to freak out. What was I doing wrong?! Luckily the guy next to me noticed my knocking point was loose and was sliding around on the string, which meant the my arrow was going totally off from where I was aiming. Of course I left all my tools up in my room, so I had nothing to fix it with. Everyone I was shooting with was nice enough to run around and find someone with the proper tools and then help me fix the  nocking point back in the right spot. I was so lucky to have so many nice people around me. After my nocking point was fixed, I recovered nicely and ended the day with a 177 out of 300. I was very proud of myself for coming back and finishing so strong, scoring even better than the day before even with 4 misses!

Shooting Day 3: I ended the shoot with a 216 out of 300, a personal best! I was very happy with this considering it was all such a new experience and the trouble I had the day before!

Every day of the competition, Chip set up camp behind me, sitting just behind the line only the archers were allowed to cross. He brought me water, snacks and kept an eye on my target. What would I do without my squire!?

 Shooting was only a few hours for each group, which meant plenty of time for sight seeing before and/or after shooting. We mostly walked up and down the strip taking in all the sights, walking through the casinos. We decided most of slot machines were boring, but we did have a fun time with the roulette machines. We're decided to make the Vegas tournament an annual event for us and are already looking forward to next year. Here's to hoping for lots of fun and improved scores!

Epic

"The joyful will stoop with sorrow, and when
  you have gone to the earth I will let my hair
grow long for your sake, I will wander through
         the wilderness in the skin of a lion."

                  -- The Epic of Gilgamesh

My Last Day in Chicago

My last day in Chicago was wonderful, and full of so many of the things I'll miss about the city.

Saturday morning I had brunch at Angels with Alanna and Martinique.  Angels is delicious and cheap, and has a beautiful back patio with grape vines, and an apple and pear tree, all bearing fruit at this time of year.  The perfect place to have brunch on a late summer day.  We sat around and talked like it was any other day, not like it was goodbye...about things going on in our libraries, possible jobs, politics, being roomies at Midwinter, all kinds of things.  It didn't feel like I was leaving, just like we were having brunch.

I took the bus home, then walked the last block or so.  As I walked, I stopped at one of the little food carts, and bought some fresh, hot, homemade tamales to take home for later.  Chip and I spent the afternoon cleaning our apartment, getting it all ready to move out of. 

We went to the Heartland Cafe for a late dinner, and while we were there I bought some Chicago magnets in their little shop (because we're leaving :) as well as the latest issue of Sun (check out the readers write section) to read on our drive.  It's one of my favorite magazines, but I let my subscription lapse a few months ago and haven't renewed it.  Afterwards, we walked around the corner (literally) to the Red Line Tap for an Olupus show. It was the last one we'll get to see for a while at least, and was really wonderful, not to mention all the friends who were there and we got to hang out with one last time.  Chris even dedicated my favorite song of theirs to me...Evil Pirate.  I really hope they record it one day soon so the rest of the world can hear it!

Chip and I left around midnight, and had to walk a ways down Clark before finding a unoccupied cab.  I saw it on the opposite side of the street, and flagged it down, and it turned around and picked us up. 

When we got home, Chip said: "It was so cool the way you jumped out in the street and flagged down that cab!  I didn't think it would turn around!  You were like a New York lady!"

And I said: "No, not New York, Chicago!"

"Yes," he said. "Chicago."

One Year

Today, we have been married one year.  Everyone told me that once we were married, everything would be SO different.  Well, its really not, but its still nice to be married to a man I love so much.

Tonight we're going to Fogo de Chao to celebrate.  I can't wait.  Its a fancy, Brazilian, all you can eat meat place.  Everyone we've talked to says the meat is the BEST and SO yummy.  I can't wait! 

It's currently about 102 degrees, which Chip says is supposed to remind us of our hot wedding day on Sanibel, but I believe this is much hotter.  We decided as part of our anniversary gift to ourselves, we're going to take a cab to the restaurant instead of walking 15 minutes to and from the train in 100 degree heat. 

Chip's sister Alicia took this photo of our first dance.  This was the photo Chip wanted me to use even though I complained it doesn't show his face.  I think he doesn't really want to be seen on my blog.  But I still love him!

Love

"for love is as fierce as death,
its jealousy bitter as the grave.
Even its sparks are a raging fire,
a devouring flame.

Great seas cannot extinguish love,
no river can sweep it away."

    - The Song of Songs, 8:6

     Translation by Ariel Bloch & Chana Bloch

Why I Love My Mom

Imagine one night you come home at like 1am and you're really quite drunk, and you were upset before when you were out with friends, but when you're alone, and still really drunk it hits you and you get really upset and just start crying and crying.  You're worried about the interview you have next week, and you think you know of someone else who is applying for the job and is really super wonderful, and you need to talk to someone.  Who would you call?

Well, I called my Mom, and you know what she said?  "I knew there was a reason I was still up.  I must have been waiting for your call."  How wonderful is that?  I don't know many people who's Mom would comfort and support them when it was so late, and they were so drunk.  But mine did, and she just said she hoped I hadn't driven.  (I took a cab.)  And that I could call her anytime, for anything. She is just so wonderful!  Thanks, Mom!

Ok, this one of many, many reasons I love my Mom.  I was going to post about this last week, and hadn't yet, so her birthday seems an appropriate time.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

The Monotones

Last night, Chip told me he was thinking of starting a club called The Monotones.  Well, really more of a support group, he said.  "For people like me who have no variation in their voice. We're so misunderstood."

There is no way I can express in writing how funny this was.  If you know Chip, you have some idea.  He said the whole thing with a very straight expression, and of course, in a monotone.  He went on for longer, but I can't remember the specifics now.  I was laughing too hard to really hear very clearly.

Thunder

I love the winter.  I love the snow and the ice and the cold, and I love when the ground freezes as hard as a rock and ice begins to cover over the Lake.  So when the air starts to turn a little warm, so the flowers just begin to bloom, and you don't really need a coat, I feel a little sad.  But I do love the spring, too, and the  winter definitely helps me to appreciate the heat instead of always wanting it to go away.  But the best, the very best part of warm weather, and my favorite part of the coming spring, are thunderstorms.  And there is nothing more glorious than the first thunderstorm of the spring.

Warm air becoming full of wind and dark, black clouds whipping up, rolling in fast.  Lightning streaks jagged across the sky and the thunder boom in the distance, or right on top of you.  Then, those fat, warm, slow drops as the rain starts.   And the smell....The smell of rich rain and damp ground envelopes you, and you don't really want to go inside and you don't care how wet you get.

Today was the first thunderstorm of the spring and I wished I was barefoot with no class to go to, and instead of going inside I could frolic in the rain and get all muddy and wet.  That was what I did the first thunderstorm of my first year in Charlottesville.  Because no matter how much I loved the mountains and my new home, the thunderstorm felt like real home and you never get to go barefoot in winter.

One of Many Things I Love About Chip

We never put away our fan this winter, it's just been sitting behind the kitchen table, ignored for monthes.  But this weekend, Chip's sister Alicia, and her husband Ryan are coming to visit us and so the fan was one of many things that needed to be put away/cleaned to make the house presentable for their arrival.  One reason it was never put away is that "away" is in the very, very full hall closet.  I asked Chip earlier this week if he would please put the fan away before our guests arrived, because we both knew, if I tried to put it away, it would take me like half an hour, I would become enraged, and Chip would probaably have to help anyway.  I just don't have the patience to take things out in order to put other things in.  I want to shove it in and have it fit.

So tonight, Chip came home, and listed the things he was planning to do, including putting the fan away.  Sometime between 5:45 and 6:00 the fan disappeared from the kitchen and reappeared neatly in the hall closet.  I didn't hear anything.  It didn't even take long enough for me to walk by and see it happen.  How he did it, I don't know.  But I love that he has the patience to do the things that enrage me.  Things work out nicely that way.

Chip & The Train

Chip

Chip looks cute in a hat.  He would be mad if I put up a picture where you could really see his face and just how cute he looks, so this will have to do.