Have more life in your years than years in your life. . .

. . . is my new life motto!
      Okay, so I've been away a while. Make that a really long while, a whole summer's worth, and boy does life look different from the other side.

It looks. . . higher. . .

       This summer undeniably was a life-changer. Working on the grizzly bear research project is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and yet so valuable. I know what I want my life to be about now. And that's getting the hell out there and just LIVING it. For instance, skydiving is something I always dreamed about and said I'd do growing up, but never thought I'd actually do it.

Walk of triumph

The summer was certainly an experience. I got lost in the woods for hours, every inch of me beaten, bug bitten and bruised from hiking through the underbrush. I shivered at night in my tent, got soaking wet all day long in the springtime, and sweated buckets in the hazy heat of midsummer. I hiked hundreds of miles of beautiful trail, and bushwhacked through territory no human would ever want to go. I went on road trips with people I'd just met, partied with crewmembers, and floated the Clark Fork for the first time.

         It was the first time in my life I've been truly living on my own. And I loved it.
        How can I be afraid of anything in life now, when I've been hurtled out of a plane at 9,000 feet in the air?

       One day you will. . . and I'm beginning to be able to say that I am.
                                       
                        

Update: The 5K!

I got so worked up I forgot to talk about the 5K I ran last weekend! Actually the real reason I forgot is because I became so immediately sick afterward that I was immobilized for. . . oh, the entire week, and still have yet to entirely recover.
     But that's beside the point! 5K's are hardly serious races. . . not for "real" runners anyway, I suppose, but it was nonetheless the first and only race of my life so far. Due to a scheduling mishap, I happened to be out dancing at a rave the night before until 3 am. Stupidly.
     Anyway, so I dragged my aching butt out of bed (this seems to be how most of my stories start, doesn't it?) and got myself to the starting line, where my friends and I helped pin on each other's numbers and nervously stretch. I was so tired that I laid down on the grass and zoned out until about ten minutes before the race. I still hold to it that I would've gotten a better time if I hadn't been exhausted/getting sick. But, excuses, excuses. . .
     We were off by 11:00 sharpish, and I took off at a good steady pace. I ran the rest to the best of my (at the time) ability. When I neared the finish line, I tried to pour on extra speed and it sort of worked, but my reserves were sapped and there wasn't much left to draw on, I quickly figured out. Nonetheless, I dashed across the finish line. . .

This is actually a simulated reconstruction of the event afterward.Just for the sake of bein' real!

. . . with 27:23 as my time. That averages to about 8.5 minutes per mile. Considering my condition that's not terrible, so I was pretty happy with it. I was 40th out of 102 runners. It was my first race okay?
    But I know what to work on for the next one--my pacing, and my prep leading up to the event. Hint: don't take a nap on the grass immediately prior.

Afterward I was just happy with myself for finishing out well and having a good time with my friends. And doing a 5K for a good cause, which was to send medical supplies to foreign countries. (By the way, I don't prefer to post photos of just myself, but I do not have permission from said friends to spread their images about on the internet. Ya know, cuz this blog is so famous and all).
     Anyway, they had some delicious bagels and bananas for us at the end. So altogether it was a great experience. . . and I promptly staggered home afterward and became horrendously ill for the next week. My lungs are still suffering (seriously, pneumonia??) and it was altogether pretty dumb of me, but . . everybody's gotta be dumb once or twice.
      :)

Cakes and Campouts

Operation dormcake went off. I won't say smoothly. But it did go off. On the other hand, I went to a campout party last night that was ridiculously awesome and hilarious. I hope it becomes a tradition with my friends and me.

     I spent all day agonizing over my attempt to make two cakes, completely fumbled with one cake and ended up with only one to show for it. And it did NOT turn out the way it was supposed to, but it ended up like this.
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Yes, it's sitting on a pine-needle encrusted picnic table. And I must say it was delicious. Everyone said that you couldn't tell at all that it was gluten and dairy free, so it was just universally good.

So. . . in the end it matters more that it's tasty than beautiful (which it was not), and much more important that it was a cake my gluten-and-dairy-free friend could actually have. She figured she had to give up on birthday cakes, so my mission was to prove she could have a normal, lovely cake just like anyone else. And she did, so I will call it a success.

Just like the campout! Because no one else is crazy enough to camp by a lake this early in spring, we had the campground to ourselves and didn't even pay a fee for it. 'Course there was no running water or trash either, but, it was worth the price!

 Once it got dark four of us succumbed to that wild, youthful impulse to go jump in the lake while it was so cold we could see our breaths, and we did. Then we ran back to the campfire and dried off around it, laughing our asses off.

It was a chilly night, to be perfectly honest, and I might've frozen my toes off just a little. But we were young and impulsive and free, and even though I may have pneumonia now, you know what? It was very much needed.

Practically invites a swim. The ducks are doing it.

Screw it!

Sometimes, you just gotta put your hands up and say, screw it! I've got school/work/shitty stuff going on, but I don't give a damn right now! Throw caution to the winds. Be young (or be young again), strut your stuff. And remember--for every low that you sink to, there will just as surely be an up. I have spent so long being unhappy and just settling for it.
      Don't do that.

Take pictures of flowers. Works every time.

Grizzly Bear Crew

Well, "one day you will" all right--one day you will join the bear crew! I shall proudly be counting myself among the grizzly bear project team this summer. Scares the absolute poop outta me, but this blog isn't about "one day you will chicken out." It's about getting out there and just doing stuff, damn the consequences and damn your worries. It'll be the most frightening thing I've done with my life so far, but it also has the potential to stretch me into a completely different, capable person. I mean, the first couple days alone I get to learn wilderness first aid, stream crossing and proper grizzly bear etiquette. What more could a girl ask for?
    In the meantime, I can't let my thoughts about the bear crew distract me from the now. So I was sitting around with my friends as we complained about being bored this evening, nothing to really do (gotta be a first). We packed up and drove in a mini-road trip to a gorgeous lake, where we goofed around and filmed ridiculous horror movies. The place did lend a creepy overtone with the picnic tables and campfires desolately empty, the wind whistling through the trees and the waters of the lake lapping softly at the shore. The mood carried over into our filming,which was about innocent people in the woods being senselessly bashed to death with pinecones. Sure to be a winner.

Nothing like a little murder for your lake vacation

It was an unbeatable way to spend a Saturday night, and I forgot to be tired even after tramping around all morning through a bog. Oh, the places wildlife biology will take you. .

How to show a girl a good time

     For yet another biology lab project, I got my hands on stuff again today. Okay, so it was disgusting creepy-crawly stuff. Good thing I'm not squeamish. It was pretty freaking cool actually, once I got past the part where I fell in the water and got my sweatshirt soaking wet. And got over that delightful boggy smell.
     My partner's and my project involved netting tiny macroinvertebrates kicked up from the river bottom. They're basically larvae stage insects, most of them, but different species indicate different things about the water--mostly its quality. So I got myself up at hell o'thirty this morning to tramp around in the brush and collect samples of these ugly characters:

Now you'll think twice about going barefoot in the river

   Fascinating little creatures they were. Fascinating enough to distract me from my soggy, soggy arms. Sadly, the results are that the types we found indicate poor water quality. Bummer. On the plus side, I have lots of stuff to talk about for a 6-10 page paper. (6-10? I mean, who are they kidding? Could've just said 6; we're college students.) Or at least, I hope. It'll be more interesting than talking about plants growing at least, which was one of our only other options. I can think of worse ways to spend a morning. And the day as a whole, well, it was fine as they come.

It was worth it for this moment right here.

                                     
                                                     

Oh yeah, the rest of spring break

I realize my last post turned into another cake rant post, but I did other things this spring break (just barely--that cake took me a shockingly long time). I explored nearby national monuments with my trusty travel companion, i.e. my brother, and had some pretty hilarious moments.  I'm starting to think we are going to travel the world together, he and I. I think it's in our blood somehow because we equally share this enthusiasm to see everything, be it outside our front porch or thousands of miles away. Not only see it, but get our darn picture taken beside it. Must be kind of like the way dogs have to pee on everything--we need a picture with everything.

Must. . . take. ..  fake teepee picture!

It's more than that though, I think. I'm not sure why, but we are both hungry to experience everything life has to offer. Whether that's snowshoeing in ten degree weather or surviving in the Alaskan bush for two weeks.So far we've been protected on our little adventures, whether by divine intervention or simple beginner's luck. For me, I never know if I'll wake up the next morning with all joy and happiness stripped from my life. So I take it while the getting is good--perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that way.

Anyway, spring break! Gosh I get sidetracked. After our trip to Pompey's Pillar (Lewis and Clark's rest stop) we traveled out to Little Bighorn Battlefield, the famous place of Custer's Last Stand. I've thought the place was creepy before as a youth, and I can't say this trip changed my mind. "It's kind of eerie here," I told my brother.

"Maybe it's the tombstones," he said.
  Point taken. Still, I usually find cemeteries to be quiet in a peaceful way, not a creepy way. . . Little Bighorn Battlefield does not feel peaceful, even though it's dead quiet other than birds chirping. There's a stifling silence that's probably just my imagination working overtime. But my brother and I both agreed that this was not a soothing place to stop and have a picnic.
      Since I will be running a 5K later in April, I attempted to get ready for it this break. Turns out I've lost some (or all. . .) of my stamina over the winter. My running condition is pathetic right now. I went for a jog today and staggered home with the worst migraine of my life. Yeah, that was a fail.
     But you know, it was a good break. I had some really good times with old friends I had lost touch with. I rode my motorcycle nearly every day (and will have to drag myself away from it kicking and screaming). I made a little money babysitting for some of my favorite people.But the break is over, and it's time to go kick some ass, take names, and not let anything get me down. No matter what comes my way. I can whine, maybe even cry a bit, but no matter how hard it gets, I will not quit. Hear me, world? There is too much to see and do and live. Bring it on.

Spring break? Where?

Maybe if I go back to bed and refuse to get up, spring break will start over. Seems plausible. However, looking back on it, I actually have managed to accomplish rather a lot (of goofing off that is). And of course, as promised, I put together a cake for my mom. It was trickier than anticipated to bake and decorate it for her secretly, when we live in the same house (for some reason). I ended up taking lots of suspicious trips to my room and back with secret packages.

No fondant here!

     This might've affected the end result a bit, but overall I'm still pretty happy with it. Especially the technique that I've been contemplating doing for so long--frozen buttercream transfer. As I've said, my grappling with fondant hasn't always turned out for the best, so I looked into some alternative techniques. This one is a pretty simple idea.
1) Print out a design/picture (they can be as complicated or simple as you like). Unless it's a symmetrical design like mine, flip the image before you print it.
2) Tape a piece of wax paper over the printout. On a flat surface like a cutting board, pipe a buttercream icing outline over it.
3) Fill in whatever colors you need. Start with whichever colors you want on top once you flip it over.
4) Spread the back of the transfer gently to smooth the colors together. Finally, pipe on one last layer of frosting the same color as the rest of your cake.
        After that, you'll have a fairly thick wad of icing, which you keep in the freezer at least overnight. The neat trick about this? When you're ready to pop it on the cake, just overturn it and peel the wax paper off. It worked perfectly for me and didn't stick at all. It was firm in my hands while frozen, so I could pick it up and move it around (carefully) without breaking it, but once it thaws it will be soft, so don't poke it out of curiosity like I did.
       I was highly impressed that 1) it worked and 2) it has a lovely 3-D quality that I wasn't expecting. I thought the transfer would be pretty flat, but it pops out at you due to the thick layers of frosting. Also, it is MUCH easier than fondant, at least for me. I think I've found my niche with this--I can work with this technique. All I need is to practice my piping skills. This would also be awesome for decorating cupcakes, since I also made tiny little fleur de lis designs to stick on the sides of the cake.  

      Sigh. Speaking of the cake itself, it didn't go quite as well. My frosting was too thick, I think, and I was unable to spread it perfectly smooth, so I patted it with coconut to hide the frosting mistakes. It's a bit messier than I would like, but I'm still pretty proud of how it turned out. Especially considering it's been a good six months since I last decorated a cake, so I'm rusty.

     All I need is more practice! In the meantime, this wasn't bad. And I'm downright excited over the transfer technique. We shall become good friends, it and I.
     .