venturesome krysia

I am calling this a semi-review because although I did test the new Osprey Aura 50 backpack, but in an unconventional way. I loaded it up with a little weight and wore it around the gear shop I work in, for 5 hours. I only put 10lbs in it because my ankle is still weak, I was wearing my Merrell Tetra Launch boots, and still had to perform all of my duties, such as climbing up and down ladders, fitting customers with backpacks, ringing at the register, etc. Yet, I can honestly say, I am impressed.

One of the biggest changes Osprey made to this pack is that it is now adjustable to fit a variety of torso lengths. I have a short torso, and their past designs didn’t fit me properly. This was sad for me because I loved how lightweight is was and still is (3lbs 5oz). It has other features like:

Lite-Wire frame and 3D tensioned breathable mesh back to allow maximum ventilation

Stow-On-the-Go holder for trekking poles

Zippered pocket on the hipbelt, (which I love for snacks on the trail)

A floating top lid

Dual ice axe loops with bungee tie-offs

Hydration pack compatible

Two zippered pockets on the front

Sleeping pad straps on the bottom

The color choices are Eggplant Purple and Pinon Green

The MSR is $199.

The only thing the 50 liter pack doesn’t have is the zippered compartment on the bottom for your sleeping bag, but the 65 liter version of this pack does. Bottom line is, I am excited about this pack and think Osprey did an amazing job. I can’t wait to test it out for real, outside!

Oh. My. Gosh. I have missed this feeling so much. In fact, I see now that I took it for granted. But, not anymore! I am talking about the way your body feels after you have spent the day rock, or, as my case may be, ice climbing! Oh, sweet, sweet, arm and whole body fatigue, how I have missed you!

Since my injury August 17, 2011, I haven’t been able to rock climb, or really do much of anything. It has been really hard for me. As much as I strive to be happy and positive, I have at times felt not in-control of my life, and like I have been living someone else’s life. But today, I really felt like me again.

I went to Peabody’s Ice Climbing Club, local man-made ice towers in Michigan. I figured since mountaineering boots offer very little ankle flex, I could probably pull it off. I did…kind-of. At first it was hard for me, I have lost all my strength and technique living like a hermit for more than 4 months, but by my 3rd climb, I made it to the top! And now my arms and body have that feeling of being used and it’s awesome.

Have you ever been on forced down-time from the activity/hobby you love? What was it like for you? How did you cope?

My first climb since my injury!

Reflecting is an important element for growth. When I look back on 2011, I see an overwhelming theme: Communication. Positive communication is so important, and knowing not everyone communicates in the same way is just as crucial. There have been many instances in my professional and personal life where a breakdown in communication has been present for me in 2011.

I had the opportunity to listen to a webinar in November through the OIWC given by Life Coach Amy Magyar called “That Little Thing Called Stress”. Amy gave some terrific advice on effective communication. One of the gems I am implementing for 2012 is, if you are angry, pause before you speak. Amy stated, “It only takes a second to pause, take a breath, and regroup before you say something in anger.” This is true! Getting swept up in a fit of anger can lead to saying something you later regret and no matter what, can’t take back. I have been on both ends of this dynamic personally, and on the receiving end, professionally, in 2011, and hope to never be involved in any of this nonsense again.

I am also resolving to always listen to my inner voice. I always follow my heart, and listen to that voice in the grand scheme of life, but sometimes in the small day to day things, I hear that voice, and think, “Oh, it’s no big deal”, ignore it, and then of course, live to regret it! It seems I always do know best, but don’t actually “do” best. Weird.

My last resolution is to use texting strictly as meaningless form of communication. I am keeping it to things like “What time are we meeting?” “I am running late.” “Where should we go?” etc. I refuse to get into texting or chat conversations, which often end badly, because I have found no amount of emoticons can accurately convey your message or the messages of those who you are receiving. The chance of having a misunderstanding is greater than not; at least in my experience.

So there you have it, for what it is worth. I wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year and hope to have the same!

Yes, being a blogger and a social media slave means I always want to stay connected (go ahead and groan, we all have our flaws!) But my hands get cold in the fall and winter and regular gloves will not work on my iPhone. So what’s a girl to do but get technology-friendly gloves.

I recently bought The North Face’s Etip gloves and I have to say, they are pretty sweet. I usually wear a lightweight stretchy glove in all but the coldest weather, so instead of buying Mountain Wear’s Power Stretch Gloves or Outdoor Research’s PL 150 Gloves, like I have in the past, I invested in the Etips. They are bit heavier, thus warmer, which I like, but still give me the dexterity I need. Yet, the best part is I can text or Tweet with them on. And I have to say, I can actually do a better job at touching the correct character because the pointer finger tip has a bit of an edge on it so actually allows me to be more precise than bare handed; this I did not expect.

They also have little grippy dots on the fingers and palms which I think would be good for holding a rope while on belay when ice climbing. This I have not tried yet, but hope to this winter.

I bought the Deep Water Blue because I like color, but they also come in TNF Black and Moonlit Ivory for women and Graphite Grey, TNF Black, and Deep Water Blue for men.

At $40 a pair, it is a bit of an investment, but so far totally worth it. I can keep my hands covered at all times and still stay connected with my children, friends, and business colleagues.

For more information check out TNF.

I have a weakness for body care products, especially high quality ones; I am my mother’s daughter in this respect! I recently had the chance to try an amazing product that I think a lot of readers who climb would like to know about. It’s made by Riveting Skincare and it’s called Rosie’s Toesies. I think it is probably the best foot creme I have ever tried.

My feet get pretty calloused from jamming them into my climbing shoes and then playing on rocks, but after injuring my ankle and not be able to even get my foot wet for 6 weeks, the amount of dry skin and callouses accumulated was, well, disgusting!

I started using Rosie’s Toesies twice a day, beginning the first day I received the ok from my doctor to resume my normal hygienic routine. The first thing I noticed about it was that it was not greasy or sticky when applied. It also smelled amazing, I am a sucker for products scented with essential oils, Peppermint and Rosemary are the primary oils in this product which both have anti-fungal properties. However, these two attributes alone would mean nothing if the product didn’t perform, but it did!

After using it for 1 week, I saw great improvement and by 2 weeks my feet were soft and smooth and callous free! This is because Rosie’s Toesies has fruit acids in it which help exfoliate dead skin. I usually use Burt’s Bees Coconut Foot Creme, which is a thick nighttime balm, but I have never gotten results as quickly with it.

Another cool thing about the company is it is owned by a police officer, Sarah Mackesey. Sarah found there were few choices for hard working women, who at the end of the day, still wanted to look feminine. Wearing heavy police boots everyday put her feet through the paces; I think outdoorsy women go through the same thing in pursuit of of our passions!

So whether it is your career, hobby, or just life that toughens your feet, Rosie’s Toesies is just the TLC they need!

Freedom! After spending about two months at home healing, I couldn’t wait to take a road trip, so I took two.

My ankle is still not completely healed, I am able to walk ~ slowly and was prescribed to ride a bike by my doctor, Dr. Kadakia (aka Dr Awesome!) My boyfriend and I decided to take two weekend trips and explore areas of Michigan that I have never been before.

Our first trip was an overnighter in Tawas which is on the shore of Lake Huron. I have spent a lot of time up north on the west side of the state, but never the east side. Tawas was a pleasant surprise. We were car camping at the Tawas State Park because of my inability to backpack, but there is nothing like sleeping outside! The weather was blustery with 50 mph winds and overcast sky, but we didn’t care.

The park has a beautiful beach with a lighthouse on it and lucky for us, they were giving night tours to the top of it that weekend. They only offer this once a year, it was pretty cool to see the lights from Port Huron, which is a good three hours away, from the top.

The next day we stopped at the local gear shop, Nordic Sports to poke around and met Gary, the owner who started a non-profit group to maintain winter X-country and snowshoe trails in the Huron Forest. He gave us some great maps full of hiking and winter trails and told us about a hidden treasure in that area that I am going to keep to myself (Sorry!) Regrettably, we didn’t have time to hike any of the trails, but plan on going back this winter, it was that enticing.

We spent the following weekend on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. We spent a night on Mackinac Island, a place I have always wanted to go, but had never been. It was the last weekend they were open for the season. The island is beautiful and is famous for having the historic Grand Hotel and for being automobile free; bikes are the transportation of choice. We rented bikes on the island and spent the afternoon pedaling along the coast, which was magnificent. Seriously what the doctor ordered! We had perfect fall weather and both agreed the ride was the highlight of the trip.

After a night on the island we drove up to Tahquamenon Falls. Again we car camped, but luckily we were virtually the only people there, so it felt more like “real” camping than Tawas did. We spent the two days there light hiking to see the upper and lower falls. The falls have an orange tinge as they spill over the rocks; the color is a result of tannins leached from a cedar swamp that feeds into the river. During peak season there is a brewery at the upper falls, but they were closed for the season when we were there.

Tahquamenon Upper Falls

We also drove over to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior for my first glimpse of Gitchi Gumi. Whitefish Bay is where the Edmund Fitzgerald was shipwrecked and they have a Shipwreck museum there, but we were too cheap to pay the $18 per person admission fee. The beach was gorgeous; white sand, a splattering of rocks and the deep blue of largest fresh water lake in the world = awesome.

It is trips like this that make me appreciate the state I live in. Seems a shame I am not more into water sports though. Oh well, so many outdoor interests, so little time!

I never used to wear a helmet rock climbing. I usually climb at the Red River Gorge, and many people that climb there don’t. My thought was if there was if there was a lot of overhang on the route, or when I start leading trad, then I would. But then something happened that changed my mind.

I took a trip out to Lander WY to climb at Wild Iris and The Sinks Canyon. It was my first time climbing out there and the varieties of rock amazed me. We were at Wild Iris, warming up on a 5.7. Warming up, I may not be the most skilled climber, but I have onsited, on lead, 5.9s and flashed 5.10s on top-rope outside. This was supposed to get my blood flowing.

Well, it certainly did that.

I took an unexpected fall at the second bolt. It scared the hell out of me, my belayer, and my kids, who were watching. Luckily I was fine, scraped my arms and legs up a bit (and it doesn’t appear that my kids are scarred for life.) Yet, it could’ve been much worse. After that, I picked up a helmet I had with me all along (for my kids) and proceeded to send, on lead, the 5.8 route next to the 5.7 just fine.

The moral?

You just don’t know.  I mean seriously, I displaced my ankle in 5 places coming off of a V1 bouldering problem in the gym. I didn’t slip, or fall. I jumped down, landed just fine, but my ankle buckled from underneath me. Things happen, why take the risk?

Thank you everyone for entering my Facebook contest!

My high school reunion recently happened.  I am not saying which one, or how many years, no sense in you trying to trick me! I had mixed feelings about going, I kept vacillating,  but in the end, I had a conflict that weekend and couldn’t go.

The reason I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go or not was because the thought of high school brought up a lot of old feelings for me.  I was always “trying” to be “somebody”.  After graduation, I didn’t really keep in contact with anyone.  And it’s not because they weren’t good people, in fact, Facebook has brought some of those people back into my life, which is awesome.  It was more me.  It was exhausting for me to try to keep up with the silly pretenses I had set for myself.

Thankfully, this is no longer the case and hasn’t been for a while.  I am not trying to “be” anyone or anything.  I am just me.  I am the happiest I have ever been.  And what may seem ironic, is that I feel my true calling is marketing through social media.  One may assume a marketer has to be a “spin doctor” or not be authentic to sell.  But that is the beauty of social media marketing.  It only works if you ARE authentic.  You can spot a phony in this field from a mile away.  I think this is why I am so drawn to it.

There has been some online conversations about the Internet, and if it is indeed the great equalizer or not.  In a way, I think it is, and let me explain.  It is an equalizer in the sense that I can, right now, become of a part of a large community without having to be exclusively invited.  Whether I am accepted is up to me, my behavior, authenticity, and values.  At no other time could this have happened.  Sure, I have a four-year degree, but so does just about everyone else.  This doesn’t make me stand out to potential employers or business contacts.  What does make me stand out is me: My end of the conversation, my ability to give and to support others, and my ability to receive with integrity.

I no longer feel inadequate like I did at 16 (and, honestly for a good chunk of my 20′s).  It may have taken me a while but I finally learned just to be.  I think the next time I will go to my reunion, no matter what, and I will challenge myself to be grateful to that 16 year-old-girl, because without her I wouldn’t be where I am am right now, which is a really amazing place to be.

Since my injury, my computer has become my best friend.  To say I’ve had a lot of down time is an understatement.  Besides my loving family and friends, what has been seeing me through is my positive attitude and social media.  Let me explain.

At the suggestion of by both my real estate-guru friend, and one of my favorite co-worker’s, I began reading a lot of books on positive thinking and the laws of attraction (like attracts like). I can’t say any of the concepts were new to me, just somewhat pushed aside or forgotten.  This post may be sounding awfully like some of my other recent posts, but forgive me, I feel the need to shout-out the benefits I am reaping!

Since opening myself up to opportunity and monitoring my thoughts (and more importantly my mood) so many great things have been streaming my way.  Four guest post slots, including one that is live today on Mark Schaefer’s Blog {Grow} which is my first guest post not on the outdoors, but social media, my other passion.  And then late last night I received a call about a new opportunity that I don’t want to go into just yet, but is very exciting as well.

Even my children are noticing a difference in my attitude.  My daughter pointed out to me that I seem happier a few days ago.  Seems kind of ironic seeing as how I have an external fixture on my leg that is mostly painful; yet it is true, I feel happy and grateful for every good thing in my life and apparently, it’s showing!