Novembrrrrrr cont.

A couple posts ago I said "This month has been pretty fucking awesome so far." I'm following that statement up with "This month is still fucking awesome."

I just had another incredible weekend and its starting to seem like the month of November can do no wrong.

Jaegs Mckegs and I in dirty Reno

On Wednesday Mitch came up to Reno to pick up his car and brought Jaeger and Spiegel with him. I was riding Boreal that night but once they closed, I headed out to Reno to meet the guys. I first went into some random club inside the Circus Circus/El Dorado/Silver Legacy complex while I waited for the guys. Some random dudes in the bar bought me drinks, I gave out fake numbers and then left as soon as Jaeger called me. The rest of the night disappeared in a blur of alcohol and bright lights. A small portion of the night was preserved when Nicola started video messaging me and Jaeger and I sent videos back. I think around 2am we made it to the Nugget and split an Awful Awful. Soo good. I think from there we went back to the hotel, partied more, and went to sleep when the sun started coming back out.

Stocking up for the year.

I planned on stopping at Boreal the next morning on the way home to ride a bit but that didn't happen. I was physically incapable of getting out of bed so I didn't leave Reno until around noon. I headed straight to San Francisco and made it to my aunt's house in time for Thanksgiving Dinner. Dinner was awesome. I ate until I thought I was going to puke. Then I went to Walmart with my mom for their 10pm Black Friday event. That was ridiculous. I'm never going there for Black Friday again. The line went around the entire building in a maze pattern. My mom and I were just going to leave but apparently I'm Walmart VIP and one of the security guards asked me if I wanted to go into the store and then let me through the metal gates and in the store without having to wait in the line. Inside Walmart was frightening. There were people running, pushing, and climbing over each other. You know those end of the world movies were people are running around and raiding stores? It was like that. Oh and if there was a fire in that building EVERY SINGLE PERSON WOULD HAVE FUCKING DIED. We ended up leaving without buying anything because it was so ridiculous in there.

First face bleeding sesh of the season. Nice.

Friday morning my mom woke me up at 5:30 to go Black Friday shopping with her. I was so tired but I ended up getting a couple cute things. I left around 1 to drive back to Tahoe. I made it to Boreal around 5:15 and was about to ride when I lost my keys somewhere between my car and the lodge. I had to wait an hour for AAA to come open my car so I could get my stuff. While I waited some gapers parked next to me gave me beer and food so that was nice. I finally made it onto the hill at like 6:45 and was having a pretty good time riding. Then a skier snaked me a couple feet before a rail but I still wanted to hit it so I did. He was so close that I would have landed on his skis so I while I planned to just 50-50 (my only rail trick), I had to front board the rail. I held it for most of the rail until I fell off and landed on my face. That was a bummer. I bled a lot but kept riding. A couple hours later I was starting to feel nauseous so I called it a night.

I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning and drove down to Mammoth. I had the worst time ever trying to park. I ended up 2 miles away. When I finally got off the chair for my first run I found out that I was missing my toe strap and my binding was barely attached. So I did a pipe run with my back foot not really even secured to my board. That was cool. Not. I went and bought a new strap and went back out. I met up with Jaeger, Mitch, and a couple of the other Bataleon guys and rode with them for a while. They dipped and I stayed until like 3. Finally my body started hurting so I went back to town and picked Jaeger up. We found a hotel and the owner made us promise we weren't going to throw a party. We went over to some guy's house for dinner and then brought everyone back to the hotel to party. Duh. We played fun games, got drunk, and then got the owner of the hotel pissed. Party broken, I crashed.

Mmmmm Sushi and sake bombs. <3

5am Sunday morning I'm up. I meant to leave Mammoth at 5:30 but couldn't get out of cuddle mode until 6:30. Give a girl a break. When I finally got out of the hotel, I pointed back to Incline. I made it back home at like 9:15 and then left for Northstar with Nicola. I had an awesome time riding there. I met up with Shannon and rode with her and a couple dudes for a little while. They had to leave around midday but I stayed to ride more. That evening Nicola and I went to sushi with a fun group for Dave's birthday. I think after 7 sake bombs we went back to his house and partied there. The night drowned in beer pong and celebration shots and at some point we went to sleep.

Nicola and I did the 7am wake up and dip-out maneuver, sent it back to Incline, and then went back to the real world. School for me, snowboarding for her. It was a solid weekend I think. Here's to next weekend!

Thanksgiving

I try to remember to be thankful for everything, everyday, but when Thanksgiving comes around it brings all those things to mind at once and I realize just how many lucky stars I have to count.  Last year I made a post on Thanksgiving about the things I was thankful for and I wanted to do it again this year but didn't have time to do it before the holiday so here it is now:


I'm thankful that I have found my passion in life and don't have to wander aimlessly looking for something to love.

I'm thankful for my good friends, like Nicola and Liz, because I haven't had very many really good friends in my life and it's awesome to finally have people to gossip, laugh, and share secrets with.


I'm so thankful for my parents and everything they've done to support me over the years. Not everyone has parents who support them like mine do and it's taken some time, but I now realize how fortunate I am.



I'm thankful that when things go wrong in my life they eventually work themselves out.


I'm thankful for the understanding of myself I've developed recently and the clear vision it's given me on my life.

I'm thankful for the adventure in my heart. Because of this my life will never be boring.


I'm thankful for all the opportunities there are in the world and how so many are just waiting to be found and seized.

I'm thankful I haven't had any injuries that would require surgery.


I'm thankful to be able to see the magic in every day life.


I'm thankful for the opportunity to be on the Sierra Nevada College snowboard team and all the support the team is giving me.




And I'm thankful for so many other things as well.

Novembrrrr

Getting right to the point- This month has been pretty fucking awesome so far.

Nicola and I killing it in Truckee

1. Nicola Barry moved into my house. She's the best.  Nicola is so awesome to live with and its fun to not be alone in my house for the month. We make pretty awesome dinners and go snowboarding almost every day together. Which brings me to awesome point 2.

Classic "Girls on Chair lift" photo

Front 3. © 2011 Ben Birk, All Rights Reserved

2. Boreal is open 7 days a week now. I've gotten 6 days there so far (school is sooo in the way of me having fun). I've learned some cool tricks that I'm pretty stoked about and finally have a picture of myself, thanks to Mr. Ben Birk. I've also discovered I really like gaping boxes. And doing MJs. Another discovery is that I ride 8x better when I listen to Gucci Mane radio. It's funny riding Boreal right now because it makes me think back to this time last year when there were only like two features I'd hit in the whole park run. I'm so happy and grateful that I'm at the point now where I'm not scared of hitting any of the features they have. It makes snowboarding even more fun, if that is even possible.

3. I entered Rome's Magic Shred Contest and won myself a new board. My new Detail Rocker should be arriving any day now and I'm so stoked to get on that baby. You can see the contest here. I'm a little nervous about riding a rocker board but I'm down to try anything once I guess. It's coming just in time too because my Roxy is about to be no bueno. I got the edge drag going on and it's really harshing my mellow.

A little more snow please?

We're the three best friends that anyone could have.

4. Mammoth BWKO was the sickest fucking weekend ever. Ever. I headed down there after my thursday night soccer game (I scored my first goal!!!) and made it down to Mammoth just in time for some afterpartying at the Hyde Lounge. I met new people, saw some old friends, and drank a healthy amount of alcohol. I went with some guys to a party at someone's house and then crashed in some random hotel room. I made it out at 7am to go up to the mountain and get my ticket. I was told that the school was only going to buy me a one day ticket but it turned out to be a three day ticket, which made my weekend so much better. The weather on Friday was ridiculous, but I met some guys who taught me how to Miller Flip so the weather didn't even matter. I was so stoked to learn a new trick. Liz and Nicola came down with Armeen and two skier kids that night. We partied more at Lakanuki's and then went to Hyde Lounge where we were treated to even more free drinks. I met up with Jaeger at some point and gave him my wristband so he could get into Lakanuki's with us. We partied there until I don't know when, and then went up to the Bataleon condo right there in the village. I dipped out fairly early the next morning and rode with Nicola and Liz for the rest of the day. That night we met up with some guys we met while riding for drinks at Gomez's. Turns out our margaritas were paid for there as well, by Binky from Smokin (Thank you <3). We headed back to Lakanuki with the boys and Cody gave us free drink wristbands (Thanks to which ever company paid for our 50 red bull vodkas). Cha-ching. The rest of the night is a blur, with lots of details that I remember but would never share on the internet. Sorry ;]. Basically, we had a good time. Lots of drinking, lots of playing. I stayed in the Bataleon condo again that night and then next morning I set up my bindings up on Jaeger's old Disaster- luckily Jaeger rides the same size as me. We went out riding together and had an awesome time. I kept the board because I can't handle the edge drag I have on my Roxy right now. The Bataleon board rides super differently but it'll work out until my new Rome board shows up. Nicola, Liz, and I sent it back to Tahoe at 1:30, only making the mandatory In-N-Out stop. Liz had to go back home but Nicola and I went out to Boreal and rode there until the lifts stopped. Such a good weekend, with amazing memories, and amazing friends.

5. Northstar is opening in a couple days and I'll be there with Nicola, destroying the park like we always do. Haha. We locked our penguin slides in at Boreal on Sunday night so look out for our mad steeze. Jaeger is also going to come up and stay at my house for the weekend so that'll be fun.

This winter is already topping last years 100 fold. I can't wait for the rest of the season. So happy to be here. So happy to be snowboarding.

Back home/ Down Town Throw Down SF

When I left San Francisco last year it was so I could be in the snow and be surrounded by the snowboard community. This past weekend however, I traveled back home to go to the first ever San Francisco stop of Down Town Throw Down. Here's the recap:


On Thursday I finished school at 5:15 and started my journey down to the city. I was supposed to play in a soccer game in Incline at 8, but Lucas had called me earlier in the day to see if I was going to be at the Absinthe premier. I had planned on only going to the after party but I wanted to see the movie and see Lucas again so I bailed on the game and went straight to SF. (Sorry Team)

The Victoria Theater

I made it to San Francisco a little after 9pm and found a parking spot around the corner of the Victoria Theater. There was a "no parking from 6am-8am" sign posted so I made the mental note to get up and move my car in the morning. I already knew that there would be no way I would be able to drive my car that night. I walked to the Victoria and there was a pretty big line outside to get tickets. While I was in line, Lucas walked by and told me I was on the guest list. Stoked. Finally made it to the ticket window, got my free ticket and went inside.

Inside Lucas showed me where everyone was sitting and introduced me to David, JP, and Romain. We hung out and drank beer until the Absinthe movie started. Of course we yelled ridiculously loud for Lucas, and every other person who was there. At some point Romain, who was sitting behind me, pulled my hair back and put a beer in my mouth. He didn't stop when it started overflowing so naturally when he let go of me I turned around and spit all the beer back at him. That was probably the highlight of my night. Then came the product toss. One of the guys chucked a dvd at me. It hurt a little but hey, I got a movie. Then the YES movie played. Again, more screaming obscenities, drinking, and other activities went down. Both movies were super awesome. I'm not normally into the big mountain stuff, but the shots in these movies were legit and made me want to ride so badly. After YES there was a push up contest to win a board. I was the only girl in it. I made it to 50 push ups before my arms stopped working. Some guy made it to 69, pretty much cheating the whole time so I still consider myself the winner. Everyone left the theater except us and I picked up a box of stuff they never tossed. I only wanted a couple of the items but I figured I could give out all the rest on this website in another giveaway.

Lucas and I, classy as always

I went back to my car with Lucas and considered driving it to the after party at Delirium. We ended up just sitting in my car talking for a while before deciding to walk over to the party. I think by the time we got to Delirium I was fairly drunk. I don't remember too much besides a lot of sitting around and talking to people. At one point David and I went down the street and got some pizza. I'm not exactly sure when we left Delirium and went back to the hotel that the guys were staying at.

David, me, and Romain. Three drunk fucks in an elevator.

I think we stayed up at the hotel partying for a little bit longer. Don't know too much about that though. I do know I slept on the floor between JP and a wall. Living life in luxury. My alarm woke me up at 7am and I was like "shit! Taxi to the car time!" I convinced Romain, who was still drunk and 80% asleep to come with me. I was so worried about my car the entire time. When I set my alarm clock for 7 the night before I figured they wouldn't go around towing or giving tickets for the first hour. I was wrong. We got to the car and it had a $55 ticket in the window. Damn. Drove back to the hotel, paid to put my car in a garage and then went back to sleep. By the time we left the hotel and I picked my car up for the second time I had a $14 garage fee. The city is so fucking expensive.

Climbing stuff and causing trouble. Pretty Average.

I got out of the city and went to Mercy High School in Burlingame. By this point I had absolutely no voice, but I spent two hours or so visiting teachers and friends. The first thing almost every teacher (and some students) commented on was that my face looked normal again. The last time I had visited the school I had raccoon eyes from hell. Also, I apparently didn't have a voice last time I visited either so now everyone thinks I just loose my voice all the time. Which is so not true. After Mercy I went to San Carlos to Action so I could send my shop time. I always have to spend time in Action when I'm home. For one, I love Alex, my friend who works there, and I only see him when I go to Action. Secondly, the let me climb on things and wreck havoc throughout the shop. I like places that embrace my inner tsunami so Action is a good place for me. The next couple of hours were full of me skating around the shop, climbing stuff, rearranging merchandise, and pretending I worked there when customers were around. I left Action around dinner time and went home- 20 hours in the bay and I finally got to my house. That night I went to Mercy-Notre Dame- Serra's production of To Kill a Mockingbird.  And then it was bed time.

The champion of the day, Dylan Juggalito

The next morning I drove back to San Francisco for the Down Town Throw Down. I parked in front of a meter but all the change I had on me only got me an hour of parking. I ended up moving my car to a random little alley and gave the homeless sitting next to my car some food. DTTD was pretty cool. I ended up taking over 300 pictures of the action (which were a total bitch to go through). Dylan Alito shocked everyone with his juggalo costume, and wielded a battle axe the entire contest, earning him the nick-name Juggalito. Eventually he incorporated the axe into his tricks, like passing it from hand to hand around his body as he frontboarded the kink of the DFD box. My favorite trick I saw all day though was Ryan Paul's Frontboard to back rodeo off the pole jam. What?? That kid is nuts. Anyways, Dylan Alito won and the crowd dispersed. I spent the next couple hours wandering around the city with some Tahoe friends.

Rooftop of the Haight Party

Night rolled around and it was time for the after partying. I was at the party at the Jim Collins (or something) Club with everyone for a little while. I ended up in the green room and found some face paint. Sometime later Del the Funky Homosapian came in and I offered to paint his face. He wouldn't let me and I got bummed so I went back into the club. I ran into Sean a bit later and he swooped me off to a house party in lower Haight. The party was super weird. People had to buy tickets on livenation to get in, and there was a huge line outside the house that went down the block. There was security at the door that carded everyone too. Inside was probably at least 400 hipster kids. It was really weird. I wandered around for a while telling people how much I hated everyone there and then finally collected a couple bucks, a Swedish guy, and took a cab back to the DTTD party. I found my Tahoe friends, we ditched the Swed and did some more city wandering. A couple fights with strangers broke out to keep things interesting. I finally called it at some point and went back to my car to sleep.

The rest of the weekend is boring. I drove back home in the morning, went to Redwood City Ice Rink to watch my mom's production team in a competition, went back home, watched a TLC series about Gypsy weddings, and then went to dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory with my parents. Then I headed up to Truckee for some more partying. I left Truckee at 11:30, tried to drive to Incline but was way too tired. I slept in my car in the CBC parking lot until 1am, and finished the journey. Annnd that's pretty much it. Good full weekend. I love going back to the city, but I've gotten my fill for a while. It's snow season and I'm perfectly happy in my Incline abode for now.


Hope everyone else had a fun weekend. :]