Happy Hump Day :)

Moral of the story: Colleges are Awesome.

M&M and I walked around Berkeley last night for the heck of it and dang I can't wait to go back! Mostly for the library but the rest was pretty sweet. I mean college campuses in general are always pretty cool - old buildings, winding walks, big grassy patches that make you want to join the rest of the people lying out on them with a good book, but this place had one heck of a library that had you ACHING to sit down with a big book and get SMART. It was described to us as "Harry Potter" style by the girl at the front desk and no doubt it was. Also a little Dead Poets Society esque. 

Anyway, short photo tour... :) 

Oh yea, and there was a T-Rex. Come visit! :)

I can't get enough of Miss Billie Holiday.

It's just so darn GOOD. That voice. That tune. It carries you along. Waltz like. You listen in anticipation for each new word while holding on to the train of the ones replaced for fear of letting them go because they. make. you. feel. so good. It's like watching a movie. Close your eyes and see what happens. Do you go to the bar, the dirty smokey bar where she stands on the stage in front? Do you go to a modern day scene where you swing to and fro wrapped in someone's arms on a warm summer day? Are you cooking dinner tossing a splash of wine in the pan followed by a swish in your mouth, hips swinging, bare feet tapping?

Go there. The music is meant to make you feel. That means you're alive and its working. Let it happen :)

I promise its worth it. There's a Mini Cooper Involved.

Round One.

I'm the worst. I can easily poop away some serious hours looking at templates and contemplating how to present something. I love this blog. I do. It's like my own little baby but then comes a moment when I have 8k pictures I want to share with you for this one experience and well, its sort of hard to do on here! But I guess that makes me slim and trim it down? Eh.

I need to stop talking to people so much on the phone because then I feel like I've told the same stories over and over and in reality, no, I haven't. So well, here goes.

There's a place called Yosemite that I had heard a lot about, seen a lot of pictures, and listened to a lot of stories. Like most things I wanted to go see it for myself. See what all this TALK is about. To see if the reason these campgrounds are all so full is not because it's the nearest National Park but because it's that awesome. Folks, it is.

I know, I know, you've already seen this photo. But really, have you? Because it's rad. And I'm sort of obsessed! Hard not to be when you find yourself wide awake at 7 a.m. on a Saturday with no real plans for the day when, boom, you decided its time to head East. And you do. And you sing. The Whole. Freaking. Way. Because its sunny out and you're behind the wheel and you can go wheeerrrrreevvver you wanna go.

What's best is driving through pretty much nothing beautiful in particular, and then, you feel it. You can just tell you're getting close to something awesome. Something special. Whenever I get that feeling I always wonder if way back when, when the first guy who was making his way across the uncharted territory got the same feeling. Did he know? Did it pull him? Are the Berkeley hippy vibes rubbing off on me?! :)

Anyway, heading M&M's advice when I first entered the park I didn't head straight for the valley, I took the high road. Literally. One that's closed in the winter and puts you (now I know) on top of the valley rims. I had no idea what I was looking for or what I would find but holy heck, someone was looking out for me because while I was mowing down on bread and peanut butter, I somehow found a trail head that led me to where I could snap all these photos. Seriously dudes, this view is the best one on the park as far as I'm concerned. Not a soul out there (sans the one guy who snapped my picture). And you're bloody staring straight at this massive rock face! (Or my face.)

I hung out on North Dome for about 2 hours I guess just pretty much staring, soaking and taking it all in. I didn't realize it had been two hours until I got headed back to my car and was SUPER thankful I had already scored my camp spot for the night! Anywho, already long story short, thanks to my bro I had myself an MRE (I wasn't planning on staying up there but when do I ever really plan on anything) and tucked myself in in the back of my car for the night. Dudes. I haven't slept that good since. Woke up early the next a.m. and thought, what the hell, lets go check out the valley before the asian invasion, eh? 

It was a good decision. Look at her beautifully shinning in the morning light. People, it's enough to take your breath away. I highly recommend it. Complete human perspective in seconds. You just can't stop gawking at her. I believe this is El Capitan? Anyway, continuing further into the valley where all the "campgrounds" are, I was trying to find Half Dome and was getting slightly more than frustrated with myself! I drove around in circles for about 45 minutes looking for that beautiful rock I just showed above above. I ended up laughing out loud at myself so hard I was getting looks from passerby because darn it, Half Dome was in front of me the whole time it just looks nothing as cool as it does from North Dome! AT ALL! I don't think I even snapped a photo I was so saddened. I still had time for a hike but people were stirring from their slumbers so it was time to act fast. So, I picked one. Yosemite Falls. "David likes waterfalls," I thought, "I'll go there and take a picture for him." It said the hike was pretty strenuous but I don't really remember reading that. I guess by strenuous the book meant "See this face? This is where a waterfall usually is. You can barely see it there. Well, you are going to hike to the top of it."

Warning - objects may be
bigger than they appear.

 And Amy said, "Well, you can't really be serious so I'm going to  not hold back and I will walk my normal excited pace because I can't wait to see what's at the end of this road!" And she did. And it was good. 

And this is where it takes you... 

People!

YEEEE-IKES! Yes that's where the waterfall pours off to the floor below!

Anyway, I hiked that sucker in less than 4 hours. I can't remember the exactly mileage but it's like 2,600 feet in elevation gain. So I went up and down for a total of almost 6! By way of STAIRS. Just like Frodo. Right up the side of the flipping valley. Hot as heck and sweating like a dirty pig. IT WAS FREAKING RAD AND I WILL DO IT AGAIN ANY DAY - as long as there isn't snow. 

Oh hey there heat-reflecting granite! :)

Welp, that there is the end of it! Except for these random final photos that I couldn't help but include. I mean come on, look at that cute little puffy white cloud just hanging out enjoying the day!

(P.S. Thank you Lord for  putting that little trickle of fresh water on the path. I was in a bad way and you had my back. Thank you.)

When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.  - Eric "The Hip-Hop Preacher"

Half Dome. The Lead Up.

This is supposed to be some beautiful post full of pictures and grandeur and it will be, but right now, holy crap it's a lot of work to go through all those pictures that are half scattered on your cell phone, DSLR, and GoPro. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying you tell yourself that "tonight I will edit my Half Dome pictures and post them along with the story." HA. Tell yourself again.

Crappy day at work yesterday. Crappy workout. Crappy sleep. Rode bike to work. Cheered up along the way care of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Broke down at desk looking at pictures of Morocco and missing David. Call David. Cry into phone in the booth. Laugh some. Email professors who I've ignored all summer. Feel horrible. Send it anyway. Whisk away to meeting. Come back. Email waiting from said professor and my heart leaps. They understand. They aren't mad. They have been busy too and haven't even touched the project. We need more data. Molly is going to get it from her students this term. Ken is acting Dean so obviously his plate is full. BUT they still want my help. They. Want. My. Help. They asked how my job is, same company? I'm not reading anymore. I'm too excited that yet again, Gonzaga has blown my mind. I can still work on a research project that I do truly care about! It's not all about busting my butt at my desk on the interwebs coordinating with SEO clients. Ew. Its still about people. About growth. About progress! There's more! It's critical thinking! It's setting the bar and building a case so when you set the bar people don't doubt! Aw, yay. 

Okay, Half Dome. Lets start with the first weekend. That provided me with this view and still leaves me laughing to think that I climbed that big ass rock only 6 days after snapping this photo. And I had no intention and yet, I knew deep down, without a doubt that I would be doing it. :) 

Hello beautiful sky :)

El Cielo de Canarias 2012 / The Light of Stars from Daniel López on Vimeo.

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." 

- Helen Keller

"All Sport Girl"

I work in Marketing. Behind a screen. Sending out any vibes I can through the tips of my fingers rapidly pushing on the keys in front of me. Conveying to those I connect with how happy I am at their excitement and pleasure in our product and our company can be a challenge for a girl with a limited vocabulary. I often find myself at a loss of words and half ashamed to continually say "awesome, amazing, wonderful, and beautiful", but in reality, that's what it is. These women I've found myself connecting with are INCREDIBLE women. Incredible. They are normal. They are simple. They are doing their part to make the day okay. In any small way they can. Today I received a picture from a gal who won our last giveaway and the sight of it brought me to tears. Her smile was and is, one of the most genuine, gleeful, proud and honestly thrilled in the moment photos I've seen in a long time. The look on her face wearing her new Title 9 t-shirt with a tennis racket, golf club and soccer ball in one hand, is a look I'm certain parents have the privilege of enjoying on their kids on a summer day. She's beautiful. She's happy. And to top it off, she had just finished her fastest mile as part of her T9K training program :) She's a teacher. She has daughters. And she's enjoying every last moment of her summer that she can. And taking the time that I know she doesn't have to put on her new shirt, find some props, and talk someone into taking her picture to send to the pesky marketing gal at the home office. Jamie my dear, you are a doll. You put in more than one exclamation point despite it being a grammatical error because dammit, you're excited. We sign our emails "love". We call each other by our initials. You're my long lost Midwestern pen pal. Thank you for reminding me what life is all about and how wonderful it will continue to be... if you let it. If you're open to it. You are a beautiful gal - there are far too few like you. Rock on JMG - you're going to be great come that October race day.

Hello, Olympic Fever!!!