National Parks Conservation Association

My friend Will Hammerquist (of the National Parks Conservation Association: www.npca.org) will be traveling to Spain in late June to lobby the United Nations to recognize the Waterton/Glacier International Peace Park as an endangered world heritage site. Join me in supporting this cause...as a Canadian coal mining company is threatening to develop a mine at the headwaters of the Flathead River...just 25 miles from Glacier National Park. Here are a few shots from the North Fork of the Flathead River taken on a press trip two summers ago...it's a mystical, magical, endearing place.

Steel Magnolias

Moments from a fun ladies weekend with Kristyn and Danielle in Tennessee and Georgia. Nothing like a little upper lip sweat with your favorite gal pals to keep you giggling! Remember...keep your eyes on Jesus! Love you both:)

Hippy tree-hugging climber...or motorhead?

The best thing about getting older, wiser, more comfortable in your skin...and living in MONTANA...is that you don't have to subscribe to the restrictions of social sects. I'm a climber, a trail runner, a backcountry skier, a Nordic skier, a recycler, a green builder, a mountain biker...AND a snowmobiler and dirt biker! For a long while I eschewed my motor-tendencies because I didn't feel they fit into the niche I had carved for myself, who I saw myself being. However, who I saw myself being isn't necessarily who I AM. I'm a farm girl who could drive a 4-wheeler at age 8. Truck at 9. Tractor at 10. Combine at 12. And I can back up a truck with a trailer like a mo' fo'. So...in addition to the Deep Snow Special which provides me with stellar backcountry skiing and ice climbing access all winter long...I've expanded my throttle-quiver to include this lovely KTM 450 dirt bike. Which doubles as my summer transportation...saving a few thousands of gallons of gas in the process :) Vroom vroom

My Nellie

It's not very often that someone comes into your life who brings the sun along with her, wherever her travelin' shoes take her. Meet Danielle. One of my best friends also disguised as sister/confidant/adventure mate/travel buddy/fellow movie lover/fly fishing guide. I wish you all a fwend like Nell in your life, who just can't help it but radiate kindness, vitality, and love. Love you Nellie and I can't wait to see you SOON!

Flip Me!

To better illustrate how freakin' awesome Montana is...I got a Flip! Super convenient, tiny video camera that I can plug directly into my computer USB port. Check out one of its inaugural excursions...lunchtime run/walks up the "M" with my two favorite gals...Carolyn and Meggan!

Some of my favorite ladies...

Part of my job entails me getting out "in the field" with visiting journalists. In late January I had the privilege of accompanying some hard-chargin' gals around the hills in southwest Montana. Snowmobiling Two Top, steaming geyser spelunking, touring Fawn Pass, shredding Big Sky Resort, and dog sledding are just a sampling of the antics we partook in. Thanks Lesley, Kim, Gigi, Sarah and Donnie for making my job so easy!

Music

Those of you who know me well know that I have a bit of a thing for music. One of my professors in college told me that I was probably drawn to writing because it was my quiet little introverted way of expressing myself. She was probably right. But as I've gotten a little older, a little wrinklier, a little more cynical, and a lot more fun...I think that need for self expression has somehow shifted to music. Not that I'm very talented at actually PLAYING music...but I can make one hell of a mixed cd:) Here's my mix for you all today...my sweet fwends who rock my world.

Eyes - Rogue Wave
One Hundred Million Years - M. Ward
Trenchtown Rock - Bob Marley
I'm Good, I'm Gone - Lykke Li
Galileo - Indigo Girls
Feelin' Alright - Sweatshop Union
Middle Management - Bishop Allen
The Motorcycle Song - Arlo Guthrie
Travelin' Thru - Dolly Parton
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Burn One Down (the live version) - Ben Harper
Old Enough - The Raconteurs
Beautiful - Damien Marley

Happy listening :)

Happiness

For a lot of years, and maybe it's just youth and inexperience, I spent much of my time pointing fingers at why I wasn't happy at that particular moment. "My car is broken." "My boss is unrealistic." "We always do whatever you want to do." "My parents are getting divorced." "The economy sucks." And on and on and on. Luckily I've had a few honest and forthright friends along the way willing to grab my shoulders and shake me out of my self-inflicted victimization. Because after all, the first lesson you learn as a farm kid is that the corn doesn't grow unless you plant it, and if you don't plant it...no one else is going to do it for you. Own your actions and decisions. Take responsibility. As Shannon Hoon (of Blind Melon fame for you non-music-snobs:)) would say, "when life is hard, you have to change."

Some sad news came my way today regarding a dear friend who wasn't happy, and wasn't willing to change to make himself so. We all get bogged down by gray weather, long winters, bad economies, lackluster relationships and aging Siberian Huskies...to name a few :) However what I've somehow learned along the way...and which I hope to never forget...is that we make our own happiness. We are the masters and commanders of our own universes. And despite an ailing economy, the credit market in ruins, a rapidly overpopulated earth and the unfortunate boom of reality television (okay I admit I'm a Hills addict. It's sad but true. I'm currently engaging in an Ernest Hemingway treatment program :))...we have the luxury of free will. The ability and right to wake up in the morning on the sunny side of the street.

So...here's to all of the rays of sunshine in my life...who inspire me each and every moment to be a better person, a smarter person, a happier person. You know who you are:) "There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way." -Buddha

Baffin Island

Freedom Fries

The fam and I spent the better part of February spit-shining our ugly American skills (Ain't ya'll got a KFC 'round here? You know, The Colonel?) amongst the splitter granite spires of Chamonix, France. We skied. A lot. And ate a whole mess of crepes :)

Ecuador

Yeah, so, it's been awhile. In addition to TPS reports and grooming MK for the next Westminster Dog Show (he's a shoe in for the "toy dog" category), I got outside a little. Ecuador, baby!

It's English, stupid.

This blog began as a knife-to-the-throat exercise encouraged by my place of employment. And...just like anything forced upon me...I eschewed it for the most part. Bucking the system as us anarchist wannabes do while kneeling before our Zac De La Rocha shrines. However...as the months (and years) pass by and all of the time I USED to devote to writing gradually gets siphoned away hosting journalists, restoring houses, selling houses, performing deep-conditioning treatments for a certain metrosexual Siberian Husky, and occasionally running/skiing/climbing/rafting/hiking through the hills as quickly as possible (the faster you go the more you can see!)...I've decided to use this little sliver of Al Gore's series of tubes called the internet machine to bone up on my scholarly skills. So, to keep you all mildly interested in escapades that compromise my jam-packed days and often sleepless nights...I vow to update this mo'fo once a week. Giddyup!