Firsts of 2016

New Year's Eve.  Time to celebrate all the good stuff from the past year, wish for this coming year to be just as good, and make promises to ourselves that we may or may not keep.


For me, 2016 has been an amazing year.  Here are most of my "firsts" from this year:

• Ice Climbing/Mountaineering, outdoor climbing, time in North Conway - January 23rd

• Laser Tag game - February 14th

• IMAX movie - March 1st

• Trying fried pickles - March 21st

• Shooting a gun - March 23rd 

• Time purchasing train tickets - March 26th

• Watching an official climbing competition - April 2nd

• Taking a trip without a family member - April 9th

• Going to the MFA Boston, and the Cheesecake Factory - April 10th

• Trad climbing - April 14th

• Staying somewhere by myself - April 15-21

• Onset for a film/video shoot - May 1st

• Promotion! - May

• Flying by myself, out of the USA, having a meal on an airplane, watching a movie in Italian, visit to the Asian continent, stay in a five star hotel, visit to a different continent- June 30/July 1st

• In the world's tallest building- July 4th

• Hand feeding rays - July 5th

• Having a Krispy Kreme donut - July 6th

• On European continent, in Italy (just the airport)- July 8th

• Backpacking trip - August 27th 

• Metal show - October 15th 

• Outdoor bouldering - November 12th

  As you can see it was quite the exciting year, and this isn't even everything! In addition to every on this list I started dating my amazing boyfriend, who was the reason I was able to do most of the things on the above list, including the four different countries (not including my brief stop in Italy), and three different continents I've been to in the last six months.  
  I've made a lot of friends, some I lost contact with fairly quickly, others I've kept and talk to regularly.  I saw my favorite species of shark in person for the first time, got my second and third tattoos, hiked 32 miles with a 50+lbs backpack on, climbed outside for the first times, and much more.

Here's to hoping 2017 is just even better!

A Change

Often times I don't post frequently because I think I have nothing interesting to post about.  Here are the issues I've found with this:

• The obvious - I don't post very often.
• I actually have a pretty neat job, so while it's my normal most people would fine it very different.
• Posts don't have to be super long! 

So, here's what I've decided to do - please bear with me while I get into the habit - a new post here every Monday.  It might be a post about an upcoming trip, or a cute picture of my dog, or a funny quote from my rock climbing students, but every Monday there will be a blog post either here or on the Appalachian Trials.

I'm also excited to announce that my Appalachian trail thru-hike will begin on July 3rd 2017!