Belay On!

After rock climbing sporadically over the past year, my boyfriend and I finally signed up for the introductory class in order to get certified to belay. The first class was Monday night and it felt so gratifying to get one step closer to accomplishing a goal I had set for myself so many months ago!

While we picked up the knots and harness ties pretty quickly, we struggled with the commands for communicating between climber and belayer (duhr – me hold, you climb).

Fortunately, we were given a cheat sheet to take home in order to practice for our upcoming belay test and I couldn’t resist sharing them with you because the gym added a cheeky translation to each that made me giggle!

Climber says: “On belay” – I’m ready, are you?
Belayer says: “Belay on” – Yeah I’m ready, what’s up?
Climber: “Climbing” – So here I go (yikes…)
Belayer: “Climb on” – I’ll catch ya…
Climber: “Falling!” – Catch me!
Climber: “Take!” – Please hold me before I fall!
Climber: “On you?” – Can you hold me?
Belayer: “On me” – I gotcha!
Climber: “Lowering!” – Get me off this rock!
Belayer: “Lowering” – Ground floor here we come!

Detail of the “Figure 8 Follow-Through” knot

Parking Fail

You know you’ve been working too hard when you park on the wrong floor of the parking garage at the end of a long day at the office!

The 1st red flag was finding a prime parking spot open.

The 2nd red flag was seeing my neighbor’s car continue past me after I parked.

The 3rd red flag was seeing a third floor sign where a fourth floor sign should have been.

Hmm...I think a little extra sleep tonight may be in order!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

Nothing beats coming home to these fuzzy faces…especially after an extra long day like today!

What do you look forward to most about coming home at night?

Adorable Wylie

Lovable Sami

MY Happiness Project: Month 1 - Status Report

Three weeks into the first month of MY Happiness Project and I’m around the 75% mark!

1. Get more (consistent) sleep – Um, I’m still struggling with this one even though I desperately want more sleep…sigh


2. Get more exercise – Still on a roll! I have done cardio and my weekly yoga classes routinely the past two weeks and I’m feeling good!


3. Clear the visual clutter – Doing great! I still have a few miscellaneous items that need to find a home and I’d love to get things back in order in the office…it’s gotten a touch out of control AGAIN!


4. Clear the mental clutter – A big YES! I’ve gotten through another two pages of email in my inbox and have been checking new messages regularly, which is a huge improvement!


5. Tackle one nagging task – I made huge headway with this project last week and the only thing left is a trip to the DMV…wish me luck!

Can You Imagine a Day Without Shoes?

Everyone loves those summer days when you can run around barefoot in the grass and sand…but what if you had to be barefoot every day because you couldn’t afford the luxury of having shoes to wear?

Can you even imagine having to go ONE day without the comfort of shoes?

I can’t.

But if Blake Mycoskie (founder and CEO of TOMS Shoes) has his way everyone will be aware of what that feels like. In fact, today was his annual “One Day Without Shoes” event, which encourages people around the world to go the whole day without shoes in order to provoke conversation and support for a movement to provide this basic human right to those currently without.

And I actually participated in the campaign for most of the day…without even knowing it. You see I decided to work from home (to help recover my voice after losing it due to a recent cold), which meant I was in pajamas and bare feet most of the day.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go the entire 24 hours because I had a dinner to go to tonight but I find Blake and his company so inspiring that I felt inspired to write about the event.

He truly is a rock star in the business and charity world and I have always been in awe of the generosity he has managed to deliver through his company in only five short years. In fact, a lot of people credit him with the concept of the “one to one” business model where a pair of shoes is donated for every single pair sold.

Which is all the more reason why I was so excited to finally get my first pair of TOMS shoes recently!

And I plan to keep buying!

I mean, you get inexpensive, comfortable and great looking shoes while at the same time helping out another in need…what’s not to love and support?

What color are your TOMS?

Wylie digs the gray/white color scheme

Side angle…I look like I’m ready to dig for clams!

They’re even cute from the back!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

So my plea must have worked because after a chilly weekend, Monday dawned beautiful and warm. It actually hit 80 degrees today - it was glorious!

With the weather warming up, it’s truly starting to feel like spring and soon my balcony garden will be planted and Wylie and Sami will get to lay amongst the flowers and soak up the sun.

Until then, they remain inside with me …always ready to lend a hand when I work on a project.

Here they show their support when I began the assembly of Rhino Robbie. They are such good helpers!

Wylie helps hold down the pieces

Sami supervises to make sure nothing goes wrong

Happy Fool’s Day!

Today was overcast and rainy with a high of 45 degrees. It felt more like March 1st rather than April 1st.

Good one Mother Nature…you sure fooled me!

Now can we please have some spring weather??