A Lovely Life

If you follow me on social media at all, you saw a lot of bitching about my work trip to Vegas last week. First of all, my apologies for complaining so much. If there is one thing I'm good at, it's that. I prefer to not call it complaining and refer to it as "factual information that can often sound a bit negative".  For something like, 22 years, our industry trade show has been held in Vegas. For something like, 14 years, I've been in this industry in one way or another with the majority of that time being in some sort of management position. For EXACTLY like, ZERO years, I've gone to this show. Until 2017: the final year Interbike is in Vegas. The year almost everyone was frustrated, burnt out, flat out NOT GOING.  Still, I was excited. Better late than never, right? I was going to take advantage of it and I feel I did. I had several goals going into my week in Vegas: 1. See new product: ACCOMPLISHED 2. Network with other shops and industry lea...

Yesterday, my hiking buddy and I set out to explore and hike in Rocky Mountain National Park...another beautiful place that has been on my list to visit. The original plan was to hike Sky Lake, then picnic.  What ended up happening was better! We drove into the park which is about an hour and a half away from where I live. You drive in and start going up and up and the views are insane, y'all. It's apparently wildfire season and there are some big ones in Wyoming, so the air quality was not as clear as it could be, but it was still beautiful.  This place makes me feel so small... One of us would be like, "Let's pull over!", and we'd get out of the car to stand on the edge of the world. We did this all the way up and back down the other side of the park before realizing our planned hike was all the way across the other side of the park. Oopsies. After a little research and expert map reading by yours truly (I SUCK at navigation and have no sense of di...

When I first moved to Colorado, the house I was staying in at the time had a book titled, "The Colorado 14ers". I had to Google what a "14er" was and quickly ascertained that hiking one of those bad boys was completely and unequivocally out of the question. Living in the snow at 9,000 feet was going to have to be enough for me. For those who have no idea...a 14er is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet. There are 53 of them in the state of Colorado. 7.5 months after saying "never will I ever", I climbed one of those bad boys on a day that will no doubt be remembered as another massive accomplishment achieved in the first year of living in Colorado. Mt. Bierstadt is rated one of the "easy" ones. It stands at 14,062-ish feet (depending on what damn boulder you stand on, I suppose). "Easy" is a cute term. You begin at over 11,000 feet and climb up a literal mountain to get to the peak....the peak, by the way, is...

God, it's so easy for me to bitch about how much I miss about Georgia. I then quickly remind myself to shut the hell up and simply look around. I'm 6 months post-move and straddling the line between being settled and still feeling so UNsettled. This post is dedicated to the moments I have where I miss something from Georgia, then immediately find myself in awe of where I stand at that very moment. I miss: The sound of cicadas and crickets Pimento cheese Those random ,"What are you up to? Let's grab dinner", texts Fireflies Southern accents...all of them! Peach picking Being withing driving distance of the beach My old "go to" bike routes Sweetwater beer The smell of rain on a hot summer day My tribe Sitting at my best friend's kitchen counter, watching her cook and catching up Dukes Mayo Bitching about traffic Waffle House at my finger tips Humidity . . . just kidding. I don't miss that shit at ALL. I love: My bike shop Wi...

6 months ago today I arrived at almost 9,000 feet on top of a mountain in a snow storm in negative temps with a raging cold and a little bit of hanger (hungry/anger for those unaware). I was home and it felt nothing like it.  There wasn't much that was unexpected my first few days and weeks here: loneliness, altitude adjustment, lots of tears, SNOW, pure fear, more snow, gorgeous surroundings... Between those early days in January and now I've gotten used to this new place and settled into a routine. I live in my first grown up apartment. I run a bike shop and that place fulfills me. I live 5 minutes from miles of gorgeous trails. I've enjoyed many a brewery mixed with a few hikes and a couple of bike rides. I've continued to do things that scare me...like going to breweries alone knowing no one and sticking out like a sore thumb. I've learned to bring a jacket everywhere I go and that what I thought was bi-polar weather in Georgia doesn't hold a candl...