Life lately

All photos taken in and around June Lake, CA.

On frolicking

Just another eastside dirt road run.

Almost everything I have ever written for this blog was created in my head while running.

Every time I've been stressed, angry, tired, sad, or my day has been otherwise negatively impacted, I go on a run.

Sweltering heat or the promise of frozen nose hairs rarely discourage a good evening or early morning jaunt.

There is just something about fresh air, breathing hard, beautiful views, and time alone to think.
[Note: I really do have a hard time on treadmills, so I'm not sure if that makes me a hypocrite or not.]

Friends that claim to "hate running" confuse me. I honestly don't understand how people do not connect positively with a good (or even a bad?) run.

While hiking the other day with a friend who is also training for a half marathon, she claimed she also used to hate running until she learned to do it correctly. She uses the five finger running shoes to ensure proper posture and now loves the sport. I asked her if she read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

"Nope."

Being on a hike, of course I had to elaborate on the details of this book because a) it is super inspiring and b) we were on a hike, so time was on our side.

Want to be inspired to run ultramarathons (50K, 100K and the like)? Read it.

Born to Run explores endurance athletes, the advent of barefoot running, the Tarahumara running tribe in Mexico, and McDougall's own journey from couch potato to ultra runner.

It is a remarkable book on the topic. I dare you to read it. You will want to run 20 miles immediately afterward.

Of course, my mom gave me this book while I was laid up with a knee injury and could hardly walk, let alone run. I know that having the ability to run taken away from me for large chunks of time makes every run that much more special, but I like that. I like getting back to my car after a long run and thanking my lucky stars (and my body) for such a great experience.

My biggest takeaway from the book, that I remember despite having read the book five years ago is this: the best way to stay healthy and happy while running is to run like a child. Run like it is fun. Run with a smile. Throw your head back and enjoy it. Stop competing, forget "training." Just run because you can. Run because you love it.

Why I am taking a pay cut

So often I read in magazines and blogs geared toward young (and older) women that you should always be looking for a better job, with an increase in pay. Many articles even teach you how to ask for a pay increase. But what happens when you learn that money doesn't have to be priority numero uno?

I’ve gone through several huge job transitions in my relatively young life. Out of college I worked on a newspaper where I loved my job but in 2008, every newspaper in the nation was seeing hardship so my copy editing position wasn’t paying the bills. I worked a great-paying sales job that was challenging for a while, but involved too much time in an office. I then moved my life from Denver to June Lake, CA, a small ski/fishing town in the eastern Sierra – population 650.

I took a job working in an information center and bookstore at an environmental non-profit where my office was a sun-lit store that smelled like organic soaps and books (sidenote: I majored in English and Politics with internships in environmental policy so I wasn’t too far out of my realm). For an entire summer I was re-energized by work instead of dragged down by it. Sure, I took a huge pay decrease, but I had saved so much at my other job that I could deal with the change.

For several more years I managed the bookstore, but I wasn’t being challenged, so I became the Marketing and Sales Director at a resort and spa in the area. I had gone so far in the direction of happiness instead of pay that I found I was working other side jobs to supplement my savings account, so my free time was really lacking, AND I had no money. In reality, my “happy place” wasn’t as sustainable as I had originally planned.

With a pay increase and a job in my chosen field, I was extremely happy for a while. But, I took on other people’s positions as they were let go or left the area. I found myself with a good deal of money, but my entire summer was spent working 12-15 hour days, with very few days off. My husband and I live in the mountains where it is sometimes a tough life shoveling feet of snow in the winter and dealing with an entirely tourism-based economy in the summer. If I don’t get out to hike, bike and run in the summer, there really is no point in living where we do.

So, when the Office Director position at the same non-profit organization was offered to me, I snatched it up. Yes, it is a slight decrease in pay, but it is a huge step up from my previous position managing the bookstore there. I am now going to be challenged professionally, working at an organization that is doing work I believe in, have ample free time to spend with my husband in the outdoors, and the workplace is just happier.

What I have learned is there is a ratio involved in work vs. play. There are a few questions that I am now going to ask myself whenever I consider a job:

•   Am I making enough money that I can work just this job and pay bills with money left over for savings and a bit for spending?
• Am I being taken care of? Does the job provide health, dental, and life insurance? Is there a retirement plan? Often these things can add up to a lot of additional money when looking at a salary.
• What is the workplace environment? When I took the job at the resort a lot of people in our small town were wary of my change. I didn’t understand it at the time, but when people say “Good luck” in a menacing tone, maybe you should rethink your change instead of stubbornly trying to prove them wrong as I did.
• Am I going to have time off to rejuvenate? I’m a workaholic, and if I’m not scheduled for two days off a week, I will sometimes not take them if tasks pile up. After reading several management articles lately, studies show that people are more successful when they have time off. We all sound badass when we say we haven’t had a day off in 2 weeks and haven’t slept in days, but, how productive are you at that stage, really?
• Am I going to be challenged?

Hard work is important. But being happy while working is my definition of success.

Reading: the Walt Longmire series

I grew up without a television.

No, I did not have homeschool hair (no offense to those that do, it's not your fault). My parents just wanted us to read. And talk to each other. And... we were probably too poor to afford one. Not sure.

For reference: homeschool hair

Anyway, the hubby and I now have every online streaming account possible: Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Netflix... disgusting. It does make the long, cold winter nights go more quickly, however.

Our favorite streaming show (so, not technically TV??) is Longmire. Hands DOWN. I have a secret old-man crush on Walt, mainly because he drives an old Bronco, wields a rifle, and wears a cowboy hat. GAWD. Hot. It is also a really well-done show and Clif likes cowboy law enforcement.

Then came my Kindle. Which talks to Amazon. Which knows that I love Longmire. So it suggested the original book series. And then my husband went to school seven hours away. And then I spent every night last month reading aforementioned series. And drinking wine. And petting my dog - those last two were beside the point.

Reading the series after watching the TV adaptation made me love both versions more. In the TV version, Walt is pretty gruff, but fit and handsome. In the book, he has a beer belly and is far more self-depricating than is ever portrayed on TV.

There are a lot of relationship histories that you also get with the book that are never even touched upon in the TV version - some that add a lot of depth to the characters.

The books are written with a lot of dialog, so sometimes that gets to be almost distracting and choppy. But the author Craig Johnson has some remarkably stunning imagery when describing Wyoming winters, Native American haunts, and characters' flashbacks. I am often thrown off by it because Johnson switches back and forth quite abruptly.

I would recommend, highly, both the book series and the TV series. You'll fall in love, I promise.

The ol' ball and chain

I have four younger sisters. Three of us were married in the last 2 years (poor dad's pocketbook!).

The three of us are SO completely different in our personalities and how we live our lives, and how we met and courted our husbands.

My sister Katie and I were talking last night on the phone about how wonderful marriage is, and how nobody ever gives it enough credit. As a wedding planner, I always ask people the month after their wedding how married life is and they always say "about the same!"

It's pretty disappointing to me that a life-long decision to be with someone isn't more celebrated. So, I'm celebrating, just a bit. Maybe it's because I miss Clif (he's away at school for another 6 weeks) or because two people, out of the blue, meet each other and decide to spend the rest of their lives together. That's not only weird, but remarkable.

Clif & Jess

Clif: Wilderness Ranger by day, ski patroller when the snow falls, tall, dark, and handsome, quite serious and always doing something... dishes, cooking dinner, cleaning, organizing, hunting, fishing, training Maxdog.
Jess: Marketing and Event Director, short, blonde and not-so-serious, blogger in the evenings, clothes collector always, hates cooking, sometimes cleans - but mostly just the bathroom - loves running, hiking, and biking with Maxdog.
Married: September 15, 2012
Started dating: August 2005
Jess's view on marriage: "Hell yes I'm married!!"

Katie & Kyle

Katie: Campus Administrator at Red Rocks Community Church, kind at heart but not afraid to tell you when you're wrong, best babysitter around, always dresses to perfection, the closest thing to my mom without being my mom.
Kyle: Missionary with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, hilarious always, TALL, always smiling and caring, super playful and a kid at heart.
Married: June 8, 2013
Started Dating: Summer 2011
Katie's View on Marriage: "Marriage is completely underrated"

Sarah & Jeff

Sarah: Contract Administrator at Foothills Paving, extremely logical, frugal but somehow has a closet to die for, loves hiking and being in the mountains, always happy.
Jeff: Estimator at Foothills Paving, Minnesota born and raised - which means an awesome accent!, hard working, mountain man, bought Sarah and axe for Christmas that cost more than her engagement ring (much to Sarah's delight).
Married: February 2014
Started Dating: Spring 2013
Sarah's View on Marriage: "It's about caring for someone else's happiness above your own. He's better at it than I am."

Tis the season

This photo is a bit blurry - darkness tends to do that to a photo.

This year a few of my friends and I got together to carve pumpkins for halloween. Mine is the one with lots of holes in it. I call it the "EHOLA virus" pumpkin.

I'm very bad at Halloween things. As a child, my parents sat us down and told us that our family no longer would be celebrating the devil's holiday. Of course, as a first grader, I was devastated. From then on, I would be deemed as an outcast at school and thrown to the wolves. 

Literally, wolves.

Okay, not literally. But, I did have extremely short boyish hair and couldn't celebrate Halloween... AND my mom packed tuna sandwiches on homemade, crumbly bread and all my "friends" (children really can be terrible) wouldn't sit next to me and would ask "What IS that smell?" 

Anyway, I would kill a baby seal for my mom to make me lunches now. Her bread really is amazing.

That's all for now... I'm crossing lines.

Blogger Sunday

It's Sunday!

And, the perfect day to spend an extra few moments cozied up in your fluffy white (because everyone's bedspreads are white, right??) comforter with a cup of warm lemon water, your pup, and a good book.

OR, check out these sweet bloggers I'm loving right now. Read on!

My Whole Food Life
Everything on this blog is delicious. And it's all healthy - like, REAL LIFE ingredients. Amazing. Take this lentil-carrot-everything else- burger. Try it. You'll love it.

OR! The simple 5 minute banana ice cream! I've made it a few times. It's the perfect dish to make with those bananas that have been sitting in your freezer for ages.

The Love Nerds
I went to college with this lady - she's a total sweetheart. And she has great articles about "dating your husband," dinner ideas, crafts out the wazoo, and party planning tips. I'm a fan.

Pink Peonies
This blogger is a Morman from Utah, but is far from the one-piece underwear (they exist here). She's adorable and prissy and I want her closet. If I heard her talk, I would probably vomit (does Utah have a Valley?) but I love her skirts and shoes. K. That's all.

Why it hurts to sit... and stand... today.

The Nike Training Camp app on my phone is amazing. No matter the time of day or night, I can do a 15 minute targeted workout, or an hour-long calorie-blasting workout, AT HOME. My dog looks at me for two minutes because I put my running shoes on and he thinks he gets to go outside, and then he hides in his bed and watches me "shuffle" across the living room. I can always feel him rolling his eyes as my wildly-flung arms knock over the lamp.

Well, much like my blogging life, my exercise life has been... well... nonexistent to say the least.

And I decided to do a week of morning workouts on NTC.

So, up at 6AM! Squats! Squats! Jump Squats! Low Squats! Punching in the air and the Squats! Squats. Squats... Squats still? OMG, I'm still doing Squats. How am I going to fit into my jeans, my legs are going to be HUGE SQUATS.

Needless to say, I felt like this:

Then, the next day came along...

And as it turns out, this lady kills squats more than I do. Because I can't sit. Or stand. I am doing the one-hand-on-the-toilet-seat to lower myself down to pee thing. I may give birth to a baby I didn't know I was housing. It's that bad.

Tomorrow: Shoulder day. 

Reading: #girlboss

I have a secret (Jess, it's not a secret when you post it on your BLOG). Right. I had a secret.

I purchased a Kindle Paperwhite.

Actually, my dad purchased it for me, so gifts can't be guilty.

Since working in bookstores for a good 3-4 years, I've tried to wage a war against Amazon.com because they admit to their goal of putting brick and mortar bookstores out of business. What A-Holes.

However, I live in a world where I no longer run a bookstore and can purchase any book I want at cost. #sad

My parents came to visit and I lusted over Mommasita's Paperwhite and viola! Dad gave me one.

I have been reading veraciously ever since. Picture a lion devouring a book, gnawing on the cover, rubbing the pages [or screen?] lovingly up and down its cheek...  stopping there.

Anyway, I have been up to a lot of reading and I feel like I have been reunited with an old friend. It is just an old friend that is deceptive and works for an evilly- brilliant company that is set on world domination.

Whatever.

Back on topic. I read #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso.

My two cents:

What an amazing woman. She tells her story, albeit rather crudely, about working her ass off, maintaining focus, and not even realizing how big her company was going to be until... it was BIG. American success story.

Not a piece of literature that I would send to my grandma, but maybe something I'd send to my 18 year old sister. She likes clothes and hashtags.

Recommend it, I do (says Yoda).

Love love.

AMAZING! Marcel the Shell part 3 is here!

New and noteworthy. Need I say more?

(oh, and I'm back, just like Marcel)

"Pinspiration!"

Whoa.

I just spent the last hour attempting to find a cute inspirational quote on Pinterest for the fitness newsletter I send out for work.

Attempting: keyword.

Instead, I tilted my head to the left a bit and scrunched my lip up toward my nose. I couldn't help posting my own captions to each of these sassy workout pins. Sorry I'm not sorry?

... unless you're overweight and trying to workout. That sucks worse.
(is that BLOOD?)

Get fit so you can wear a thong on the street!

OR: Exercising means you'll look like a man wearing heels and a wig NAKED.

... and wear no pants and running shoes to bed.

... and get off Pinterest! If you spent HALF the time working out that you spend pinning inspirational naked women, you'd be fit as F*&^!

AND, the two that I think are actually fairly inspiring:

Listening to Lately

Sylvan Esso. Amazing. Give her a few minutes - she's got a great, modern-yet-classic sound that I can't get enough of lately.

Enjoy.

Lately

This is about it. Oh, and some weddings. 

Too much work...

... and not enough playtime...

... creates hair-dos reminiscent of that cranky librarian that used to hiss "SHHHHHHHHHHH! This is  a LIBRARY!!!" with a mix of a hung-over college student. 

Oh yea. I have bangs.

A belated Mother's Day

Along with marketing, I've been trying my hand at event planning. Which is, in fact, a nice way of saying that I've been thrown into event planning a few months prior to wedding season.

We had a beautiful Mother's Day Brunch at my resort (doubleeagle.com) last Sunday, so without further ado; photos. Because that's all I have time to post lately.

Dispatch from Palm Springs: Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

One of our days in Palm Springs we heeded the advice of all the locals and checked out the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. For $23 per person, we were loaded cattle-style onto a circular car. Once babies started crying, the floor started rotating and we took off to ascend two-and-a-half miles: from desert basin to... 8,000+ feet (aka, home, for us). Seriously, I'm not afraid of heights, nor do I suffer from motion sickness very often, but I was about to vomit the whole ride up. Not only was the floor rotating, but every time the car came to a tower, we swung back and forth as well. Whoa.

The tramway has some really interesting history, and Clif and I enjoyed watching their California State Park video about the politics involved in building the tramway (and the 'splosions!).

Once we stepped out of the Visitor's Center (with a fancy restaurant and a non-fancy food court), we laughed because we were basically back at home in June Lake or Yosemite high country. Every plant and animal was the same, the air felt cooler, and both of us relaxed a bit. 

We enjoyed a back-office tour of the ranger station as I pummeled the poor State Park Rangers regarding land use, drainages (because, comeON, how does Palm Springs survive with 4in of rain a year?!) and the like. They were super sweet and answered as much as they could. 

Conclusion: The San Jacinto State Park is EXACTLY where I would go if I was stuck living in Palm Springs in the summer!

Other conclusion: Not a destination if you already live in the mountains and you don't like public puking. 

Dispatch from Palm Springs: Hotel California

I haven't been posting the past week as I've been working my patooty off trying to get out the door on vacation! Clif and I decided to drive South a few (six) hours to Palm Springs, CA to get a little R&R and tons of sunshine.

Working in the hospitality industry I've become obsessed with checking TripAdvisor.com reviews before going anywhere. We ended up staying at the number one hotel in Palm Springs, according to TripAdvisor reviews - Hotel California.

Let's just say that people do not lie. This place is amazing.

Not only does Larry, the owner, take you on a personal tour upon arrival, but he checks in constantly if he sees you laying by the pool or heading out for a night on the town. He is never bothersome, he just wants to make sure all of his guests are having a great time. He always calls everyone by their first names and Clif and I felt really, really at home here. 

Clif called it a "5-star hostel" because we also had access to a beautiful, almost-outdoor kitchen and giant grills. Oh, and they did the dishes for us. Even when we tried to do them ourselves. 

The pool is surrounded by green palms, and hummingbirds are flitting around (which, as a birder, I LOVED!). 

We took the hotel's Harley Davidson stretch limo to town last night. Kind of funny, but a free limo ride to town? Heck yea.

Talking with Larry this morning, he gave me his philosophy: everything they do is the best possible service. If they can't give the best service, they won't do it. Example? Every other hotel does a continental breakfast that is always sub par. Here, they have a limo that will take you to wherever you want to go, because nobody needs frozen waffles on vacation.

We give it 1 million thumbs up (if we had that many thumbs, which we don't). Come here. Visit.