Back in Tahoe!

The time has come! It's been real in the city, but I'm back in my lakeside paradise in the mountains.

Yesterday I moved all my stuff into my new apartment in Kings Beach. I'm living with three guys, Micah, Stavie, and Ian. So far it seems like we've got a solid little group. Ian works at Squaw, Micah works at Northstar, and Stavie works at Safeway. We pretty much have eating and riding on lock within our house. Micah studied kinesiology for a couple years so we're going to do a bunch of working out together in house and get super fit.

School starts next Monday so until then I'm just chilling on the lake every day. Not a bad life. I'm stoked to see everyone again. Jess came by the house last night and catching up with her was awesome. A lot of my friends that I ride with are transferring in this year so school should be pretty fun.

Premier season is also coming up and that'll be a great time. I love going to parties, meeting new friends and hanging out with my old ones.

That's about it. Nothing too exciting happening just yet. I really am totally stoked to be back here. Living in Tahoe is like a breath of fresh air. So beautiful and relaxing. Ahhh.... Alright, I'm off for a float on the lake.

Привет Russia!

Somehow people found out about my little snowboarding diary and now I have readers in countries around the world- from Chile to China, and Latvia to Venezuela. Recently there's been a change in where my readers are from; outside of the US, the country who views my blog the most now is Russia. To thank my Russian readers for their support, I wanted to make a post that highlights Russian snowboarding. One of my friends I ride with, Nika, is from Russia and told me that snowboarding is growing in Russia and it's starting to be a big thing. Stoked for Russians! Keep sending it, and thanks for your support.

Here's a video from Olya Smeshlivaya, a rad snowboard chick from Moscow. I met her at Mt. Hood last summer and she's pretty cool. She rides for Dakine, Dragon, Gnu, Protec, Vans, and Betty Rides.




This one is from Denis Leontyev. He’s 19, and is sponsored by Academy, LRG, 32, Dakine, APO, Skullcandy, and Lil’ Kings. This video was filmed at some indoor arena in Russia. Wish we had one of those around here!

DIY: Action Magnets

If you're anything like me, every morning when you wake up, the first thought that comes to your mind is "What am I going to do with all my old snowboard magazines?" While cleaning the house today I found some flat magnets and figured out the solution to my problem: make some action shot snowboarding magnets. I'll be moving into my new apartment in a couple weeks and what better to decorate the refrigerator with?  I figured I'd share this project in case anyone else wants to get creative/kill some time.

Project Time: 10-20 minutes, depending on how many magnets you want to make
Supplies: Snowboard magazine, magnets, scissors, glue stick, colored paper

Just a few supplies needed before starting!

Step 1: Flip through the magazine to find some good "action" shots you want to use for your magnets. Look for ones that have the rider's whole body unobstructed and are 1" to 3" wide. Cut these pictures out of the magazine.

A couple of the shots I chose out of the February '12 Transworld

Step 2: Cut out the bodies of the riders and glue them on to your pieces of colored paper. The main reason for doing this is to make the pictures a little more sturdy. I used oragami paper so I had to glue a couple layers, but if you use construction paper only one layer is needed. Once your glue dries cut out the rider again. If you leave a little space on the outside it will put a colored boarder around the rider.

Step 2 in progress

Step 3: Once your pictures with the layers of paper behind dry, use your glue stick again to glue the magnets on to the back of the snowboarders.

Make sure your magnets don't extend outside the riders, cut them down if they do.

Step 4: Wait for everything to dry. And you're all set. Stick magnets to the fridge to hold up your favorite pictures and mementos from the season.

My magnets are holding up pictures from a rail jam in Reno, matches from the
Rome premier, a twe12ve movie ticket, and my Oregon liquor serving license.
What will you use your magnets for?

Optional Step 5: Make magnets of rails/mountain/trees, using the same process and create a whole snowboarding scene on your fridge. You can also bedazzle the magnets with glitter and rhinestones if you really want to go crazy.

Well, that's it. Simple and quick! If you make this, I'd love you see your results!
Let me know what you think of this DIY too and I might try to include more like this in my blog. :D

MRI #2 Results

My Surgeon called today to tell me that my MRI on my right knee looks good. He said the pain I have in that knee could be from some scar tissue that formed because of tweaking it out when I tore my left ACL. There's nothing that requires surgery though so yay! Now I have the peace of mind that once my left knee heals up I'm ready to shred again. Till then, it's just arts and crafts and lurking the corners of the internet.

Recovery week 5 & MRI #2

This morning I went to the hospital to get an X-ray on the screw in my knee and to meet with my surgeon. My surgeon said everything looked good and I was doing really good for only being five weeks out of surgery. Afterwards I met with my physical therapist who also said my knee was doing awesome. This means I'm definitely on track to be snowboarding again in December. All I can say is, hashtag-so-glad.

I also set up an appointment to get an MRI on my right knee. I've had this worry in my mind since April that I might have torn something in that knee too so I really want to know absolutely sure I know what's going on. My MRI is in a half hour so I should know in the next couple days what the situation is. Crossing my fingers that my right knee is a-ok.