Because the week was lovely!

You know that feeling when you've had a great day?! That was how my past week has been. I'm working on a lot of different parts of my life right and seeing improvement just makes me giddy.





A few things I'm looking forward to:

Blue Christmas! I'm in my own house that is big enough for a tree - so I'm decorating with turquoise (my favorite color!) this year.

{photo via Southern Living}

Chico, CA: I'm going to visit one of my friends for 16 days! A kid in a candy store is the level of excitement I feel about this trip!!! I arrive there Dec. 21st and leave Jan. 6th. His mom has even made me a stocking! AND, my friend Sara lives about an hour away in Redding, so I'm getting to see her again finally.

Climbing: I was able to climb yesterday and climbing again tomorrow. I seen lots of improvement in my climbing and have become closer with a lot of new people lately. I've got a few really great climbing photos from the past few times that I will post here soon.

Go be awesome this week!

REALLY?!!

So I like to think that for the most part I'm a fairly level-headed, listen to both sides kind of person. However, there are certain issues and situations (these include human rights, children, and how to improve our thinking as a society) that I'm super passionate about and will enthusiastically jump on my soapbox.

This is one of those times! Amazon.com is currently (and plans on continuing) selling a how-to guide for pedophiles. This article does a fairly good job at explaining the situation.

I am boycotting Amazon.com. I feel strongly about two points that are leading me to my decision.

1) Amazon.com as a retailer has a responsibility to us as consumers. They get to choose which books they sell. They do not have to support this one, but they do. They have chosen to say that it would hinder free speech if they pull it. What if what you're saying is morally wrong or hurtful?

2) Go check out Amazon.com's Facebook page. It is frustrating to see so many people not getting a response as they comment en masse. The lack of personal response just shows how non-personal Amazon's business sense becomes when receiving criticism. However, check out their current status. The Facebook admin replied back about a sweepstakes during the same time customers were commenting about the book.

The book's contents completely irk and disgust me. However, Amazon's lack of responsibility to the public appalls me even more. As adults, we have responsibilities that maybe we don't want to have, but we have them none the less! Same with companies. You choose the culture you live in and the culture you show to others. Think about how amazing and slightly heavy that is all at the same time. What if we always thought about our actions, how we treated others, and the things we teach everyone around us? What if we did all of this from a moral, healthy, well-rounded place within each of us? Amazon, how 'bout you do that too.

Gorilla Time

To start this off, I FINALLY found my camera a couple of weeks ago (yay! because I just bought it in May). This fact complies to post on here more since I'll have fun pictures to share! With that being said...

I got to go to the Green River Narrows Race for the first time this past weekend! I've heard my guy friends talk about it for the past few years so excited was an understatement. The race is in Saluda, NC (near Asheville - love that city!) and hundreds of people flock there for this race.

The adventure all started with a Facebook chat with Cruise telling me that I should come and then Alleysun (she really spells it Allison but I don't) wanting to come visit the same weekend. SOOOO - we decided we were going to the race in a matter of about 5 minutes. Alley came over from Mississippi on Thursday and we headed up to North Carolina on Friday afternoon, only about 2 hours behind schedule. The best part was we had almost NO clue of where we were going - as in I hadn't talked with Cruise or any of the others since we had decided to go to the race. I printed off some race info, left a voicemail for Cruise, Alley plugged Saluda into the GPS, and away we went!

Cruise did call me back when we were right outside of Atlanta and confirmed we had actually guessed correctly as to where to go. Alley and I stopped at awesome Mexican resturant somewhere in northeast Georgia where she said my chipotle sauce tasted like band-aids but she liked it (okay?! - I liked it though too). We finally got off of the exit after six hours of driving and have to find our camp ground. The road down towards the camp grounds was switchbacks all the way down and unlike Alabama, North Carolina doesn't really believe in guardrails. After arriving to the camp grounds, we proceeded to quickly get lost and do a complete circle (the camp ground really wasn't that big). We then go looking for everyone that is camping there. We didn't find them. I even called for Chama (Cruise's dog - Chama is awesome) but apparently he was already in the truck for the night. The camp ground-getting-lost-and-searching-for-everyone event took about 30 minutes, so Alley and I finally gave up, parked, and went to sleep in the back of my Jeep.
The campsite where everyone was for the weekend. The two trees on the right are where we slept Friday.

Saturday morning started off lots luckier. I got out of the Jeep and spotted Chama right away. During the previous night's searching, we had definitely pulled up right beside everyone. We quickly put on multiple layers and headed to the gas station to stock up for the day. Everyone carvaned to the trail head for the 3ish mile hike-in. It was an easy hike until the very end - think a couple hundred people all trying to get down a 45-degree hill that ends at the river.

Alley and I waiting in line to go down the hill.

The race had already started by time we got to Gorilla. We actually watched Cruise and Charlie come down without realizing it was them. Robert, Alley, and I finally found a spot to watch 'Go Left'. We recoginzed Andy as he came flying past us and also got to witness some carnage that ended up with one of the competitors heading off to get sutured up.

We finally made it back to the camp grounds (remember we had that awesome hill to tackle, plus the rest of the hike out). Margie (Cruise's mom) made us dinner that included salads with FETA CHEESE! (I'm always going camping with them!) The party and awards ceremony was a few miles down the road, so we all piled in a couple vehicles and headed out for a long night.

Mark (Cruise's dad), Robert, me, and Alleysun

Hi Andy!

Cruise and me

We finally headed back to our campsite and hung out by the fire for a while. Sunday came and Alley and I packed to make the trek back to Bama, while the guys were headed to huck some falls. We said our good-byes, made a stop at the local produce stand for some A-MAZING 'Pink Lady' apples, and got back on the road!

It was an awesome adventure! Check out this random video for the race action.