Two Creek Canyon Hike

This is a shot of a trail in Two Creek Canyon. You can catch up with the trail about a mile and half from my apartment downtown. Kim and I rode our bikes to the trailhead and took off on a lovely Sunday hike. How amazing is it to have that just down the street and a way cool chica to explore it with!

It was like 70 degrees out. Yay warm days in late autumn!

Kim and the trail looking back toward the city.

We could be closer than you know,

New York City, New York Day 2

So my second day in Manhattan was everything I hoped a second day could be. Brigid's birthday was actually this day and her friends made her lots of cakes of all sorts.

In the AM we went and got some of that lovely oatmeal and then planned our day. I wanted to hit some art museums but we slept in pretty late so we decided that it would be smart to just go to one and try to give it an appropriate amount of our time. I chose the MET. Next time in in NYC I'll check out the Guggenheim and the MOMA.

The reason I chose the MET was because of my college graduation ceremony. The director of the MET, Philippe de Montebello, was our speaker at the ceremony. Honestly, before that I didn't know a think about him or the MET. His speach was so astounding and encouraging that I just had to go to the MET while he was still the director. He announced earlier this year that, after over 30 years of service to the MET and the USA as a whole, he was going to be retiring by the end of 2008. His story is quite remarkable and, if I could find a biography of him I'd post where to get it here but I can't, I'll try to get the transcript of the speech he gave and post it someday because it's definitely worth the read. Anyway this is why I chose the MET.

And what a good choice it was!

Man, I think Geeta and I could have spent like 48 hours in the MET and we still wouldn't have seen everything. To keep things short, my favorite parts were:

1. The Egyptian Temple of Dendur (c.a. 15 BC) that they moved stone for stone from Egypt to the MET in order to save it from flooding in Egypt.
The best thing about this Temple is the graffiti carved into the ancient ancient structure by fools from the 1700's and the 1800's. Literally "Joe-schmo was here in 1816" types of stuff... in all different languages and stuff. Hilarious! Those "tags" are now forever preserved at the MET. What an honor. haha


2. Chuck Close's work. I studied him pretty thoroughly during my years in Art School but have never actually seen any of his work in person. It's amazing and just makes me enjoy humanity.


3. Georgia O'Keeffe's work. I've loved her work since like 3rd grade when I had to do a report on her. I've seen some of her paintings in person before but never so many at once.

4. And this.
Yes folks that's bike frame art on display in the middle of the contemporary art wing of the MET. Not sure much about it I just thought I'd add it. Pretty appropriate considering why I was in NYC in the first place. haha.

I was pretty sad to leave the MET. Next time I'm in NYC I'm going to dedicate a WHOLE DAY to it. Oh, here's a fun fact- the MET has a huge cafeteria with it's own sushi chef! Yes, for a snack you can have MET sushi. Yes, of COURSE we did it. This museum really got me thinking... about war. Yes, war. If another nation decided to attack us and bomb the heck out of New York, or any other city for that matter, it's not just an attack on one group of people- it's an attack on all of humanity. We have HUMANITY's history and art in that museum and many many originals. We have art form the WORLD that makes up such an important human history. I can't imagine our loss if it was destroyed because of diplomatic differences. The same, however, can be said of any nation. How many museums have we Americans destroyed in other countries. How much of our own history has been lost alongside it? Art is such a unifying aspect of life. It's an international language and can ignite more feelings and meaning than almost any other form of expression. A book can be written about ideas or a story and then translated but you never have to translate a painting, a sculpture, a photograph. It just all hit me at once how petty our differences are and how precious our history is. How man cultures are there in humanity's past that we know NOTHING about?! If NYC ever got nuked so much of the earth's history would be lost. How much is lost already?
ugh
Anyway,

On the way to the MET we strolled through Central Park. The whole walk only look us like 30 minutes IF THAT. She is so lucky to live so close to all of these wonderful things.


Ok fast forward to that evening. Brigid and her friends all decided they should have a birthday dinner at the Chinese food restaurant right across the street from Columbia. We did this and I invited a few old friends. Margot, my very best friend from high school who I haven't seen in like 4 years came with her girlfriend. One of my closest friends from SCAD, Abigail, came with another friend who just recently moved to NYC from Utah, James. OH MY GOSH IT WAS SOOOO GOOD TO SEE THEM!!!!! Margot only stayed for a bit but I got to catch up with her and finally meet her girlfriend! They look awesome and I'm so glad they are doing well.

I didn't get a photo of Abigail, James, and I for some stupid reason but we hung out much later into the night. We took a few laps around the block that Geeta lives on and talked and talked. It was sooo refreshing to see them. Abigail is one of my most esteemed friends and what she brings to the world is so important. She has her priorities straight and constantly encourages me to continue to follow my dreams. I love her a lot. It was great seeing James too because we miss him so much here in SLC! James was my very first friend here in SLC because he knew Abigail and she helped me move in! It's good to know I have friends like these in New York. I can't wait to see them again. Oh my gosh I almost forgot, while we were walking and catching up a RAT literally ran over all of our feet. Abigail FREAKED out and that got me freaking out an James like KICKED it into the park. HAHa we survived a NYC rat attack!

So we finally got to bed late, but only after getting some music from Geeta's awesome friend CHRIS. YOU ARE AWESOME CHRIS THANKS FOR THE HOOKUP! Thank God there's at least ONE hardcore kid at Columbia. He lives down the hall from Brigid and even helped come and pick me up the first night I was there... good because two girls alone with a HUGE BOX on the subways at 3am without a big hardcore kid is not a good idea ;) Thanks Chris!

So the next morning we really just took it easy. We got up, ate some food, went to this church down the street from her school, and then I went back to sleep untill like 2pm.

The view from her dorm room on this rainy morning
I said my goodbyes and then Geeta and I jumped on the subway to Penn Staion where it was then up to me to figure out how the heck to take the train all of the way to NJ to my airport in Newark. It turned out to be not as hard as I thought although it was like, um, total chaos. There are seriously like NO rail-station people around to help you... you have to do everything through computer and then when your train comes you have no idea what rail it's going to be on until it actually GETS there and then you have to like RUN to the correct door that leads to it's tracks. Then you have to fight your way through the door and get your luggage stored (i didn't have anything but a backpack thank GOD) and then sit as fast as you can so you actually have a seat. THEN you look around and realize that the train is tottally packed and there are people seriously standing. I mean do they ever cut off the tickets at capacity??! I guess not. I mean seriously! Then you have to listen and MAKE SURE you get off at the right stop because there are NO MAPS IN THE TRAIN so you have to talk to like random people and make sure you know what's up. The problem is that most people don't have any clue what's up. haha. Somehow by God's good grace I ended up at the airport checking in only to hear....

that my airplane is like an hour behind and that it was going to be literally impossible to make my connecting flight in Dallas. Yes the flight I was absolutely going to miss happened to be the last flight of the night out of Dallas to SLC so, before I even got through security I knew I was going to be spending the night in my connecting city. Gag. Even better, I guess the plane with late because of weather so here's the guy at the ticketing booth telling me that not only will i have to spend the night in Dallas but that they won't pay for a place for me to stay so my options are either pay 50 bucks for a hotel room or sleep in the airport.

The flight was lovely but Dallas... DALLAS?! Lame. Anyway I ended up going the hotel rout and after waiting over an hour for the shuttle to pick me up I ended up at a relatively nice hotel. I saved some money on the room because I got some sort of discount but it was still 50 bucks and I had to get dinner. There was a sleezy sports bar next to the hotel (the only restaurant around) and six flags was literally in my backyard but closed for some reason. Closed? It was only like 10:30pm. Maybe the season is over for 6 flags? Who knows. Anyway I got a sandwich to go from the bar and then watched TV till I passed out. Got up the next morning, got free breakfast, and got GOING. I was back in SLC by 1pm and went straight to bed.

What a trip. Would I do it again? Yes of COURSE.. however I'm going to wait until I have enough money saved up to do it next time. No more credit card trips fosho. It's ironic isn't it? I'm in NYC during Wall Street's demise and I'm doing exactly what crashed the markets- living beyond my means... for the last time. woo!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

New York City, NY Day 01

I'm starting off this blog with photos of the market where my sister gets groceries. It's actually a pretty big market and has everything you'd ever need but it's so intensely small. I mean I never really realized how relaxed we are in downtown SLC until I set foot in this place. I mean our grocery stores take up like an entire square block... hers is about the size of my apartment but I'd argue maybe has even MORE food and choices than your local Smiths or Albertsons. Seriously, forget using a cart. The isles aren't even three feet wide.

I know a few ppl in SLC that wouldnt even be able to get through that isle to buy food... time to slim down just to grocery shop. awesome! haha

Oh stop it. I haven't been to NYC in like 10 years so I can get excited about whatever I want to get excited about. haha
So here's the breakdown. I haven't been with my sister on her birthday in like 6 years (maybe 7). She just graduated from high school and is attending Columbia AND Julliard in New York City on fat scholarships for a 5 year duel program. For a birthday, graduation, and congratulations present I decided to build her a custom bicycle to use while she lives in NYC. I compiled all of the parts, painted, shined, etc. all in SLC and then boxed them up and brought them via airplane all of the way out to NYC to build her up a bike on her birthday. Woo!

I arrived last night (thursday evening) at 3:30am. After catching train after train and meeting some wonderful people (2 new friends made from London and Ghana!) and getting soaked in the rain, I finally plugged in the blow-up mattress that my sister rented me for the weekend. I'm staying with her in her single dorm room at Columbia University. I laid down, closed my eyes and, then, before I knew it, it was 10am.

My sister stayed up a little after me and was awake before I was. It feels AWESOME to be chilling in a college dorm without any deadlines above my head. While she was finishing a paper I was sleeping. It was the best feeling ever. (sorry sister!) haha. Columbia has a beautiful campus. Their library alone seems to be larger than Utah's state capital... and dare I say... much more majestic. Aside from the constant rain and the very slippery ground surrounding each building, it's a nearly perfect university. It's not too large, not too small. The campus doesn't go on forever but includes everything it needs AND they have tons of great food I can actually eat in their cafe. This morning I had perfect oatmeal with grapes and flax. It was yummy.

After breakfast I spent the rest of the time building her bicycle. The only thing that really gave me trouble was her front break. I brought the wrong size break and so we had to make a few stops at bike shops to get it right. We finally found one that could help, however they didn't do a very good job. It's workable but I have to get it to a better shop tomorrow morning to make sure that it's in perfect working condition for her before I leave.

The box I dragged across the country

Workin' on Geeta's bike


I am SOOOO proud of this finished bicycle. Here it is in all of it's glory!


I rented a little commuter bike downtown for pretty cheap (since it was raining the shop gave me a pretty good discount) and we tried to catch the NYC Critical Mass but missed it by about 30 mins. This is a total bummer obviously but not to worry... we still had a grand time on her maiden voyage! We rode alongside the Hudson River on what is called (and appropriately so) the Riverside bike/ped path. It is GORGEOUS and bypasses all of the nasty roads. It runs throughout Manhattan island from top to bottom. What a great resource for commuters! It even has bicycle lights that are little lit-up bicycles that coincide with the traffic that sometimes runs alongside of it. We rode almost the whole thing.... in the rain!

Geeta on her bike in the rain with the Hudson River behind her.
After riding down Riverside for a while we ended up in Chelsea! How cool is that? We didn't even plan it. ANyway they have this huge complex called the Chelsea Peer that actually has an ice-skating rink on the roof of one of the buildings. We took a break there and re-grouped to plan the rest of the night.

Riding bikes on the roads here is like riding on highways so when we ended up in Soho and decided to walk the bikes around and find some food to eat. We both decided that my sister should get more used to her bike before we attack the roads. We found a burger joint and had a really filling dinner. I haven't had a burger in forever so it was a treat fosho! Afterwards we followed our noses (literally!)to a super cool little cookie place in Soho called Insomnia Cookies that is open late and even delivers their cookies right to your door. NO JOKE. Apparently there is one in Ann Arbor Michigan too.. just never knew it. As we all know I can't eat cookies but Geeta can so she went in and bought some. The guy actually gave her a free one for me just to be nice and she took it to give to a friend back in the dorms. She also took a carry out menu to try their delivery service during those late-night study sessions. Why wasn't there an Insomnia Cookies near my dorm when I was in college?!

Waiting on the burgers

decided to avoid the rain and catch the subway back


I'm always on trains with bikes.
I've rediscovered that my hair can actually look nice without a straightener... and that in humid places it is wavy and STAYS that way. I'm bent on growing it out now- my sisters hair looks amazing and it's long and actually low maintenance. Oh humidity. Funny, when I lived in Savannah and it was SUPER HUMID (wayyy worse than NY) I never had hair long enough to curl. Half of college I had dreads and the other half i had shorty hair. Anyway, bed time. We had a great day!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

C+T=<3 (Dinosaur, Colorado & Zion National Park, Utah)

So Tyler and I have been officially together for over a year now. At our 6 month and 1 year anniversaries we took a road trip.

The C+T 6 month anniversary trip (last October 2007) had 3 goals:
1. Go to Dinosaur, Colorado
2. Scope out some beautiful autumn leaves in the mountain canyons on the way
and 3. Stay in Grand Junction at some fun hotel overnight and drive home.

So, because we didn't bring a map and didn't really care to much to plan, our trip ended up being a "drive-until-you-are-totally-lost-exhausted-and-out-of-gas-and-then-sleep-in-the-back-of-the-station-wagon-in-Vail-because-you-thought-you-were-in-Grand-Junction" trip. At least we made it to Dinosaur, CO and met ONE of our goals.





I think we saw about 5 minutes of cool leaves. Don't get me wrong the trip was really fun. Sometimes it's fun to just go.


The C+T 1 year anniversary trip had 2 goals:
1. go camping at Zion National Park in Southern Utah
and 2. Try to keep Chelsea's blood sugar stable so she can enjoy herself

WE ACCOMPLISHED BOTH GOALS! Here are some photos from the trip. We stayed in Zion for 3 days and slept for 2 nights all "camping-at-the-park-tent-luxury-style". We did learn, however, to plan a little better next time we go camping. It was super fun though and I love my boyfriend so much for being cool and liking to do things like this. woo!







YAY! I'm so lucky to have him....
We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

.home.

Read this



As many of you have already heard, I have been dealing with a certain illness that has to do with my blood sugar and will probably continue to have to deal with it for a long time coming. No worries though, it's not the end of the world. I would, however, appreciate your prayers and patience with me during this trying time as I learn about what diet helps me the best. Darn sugars.

Other than that I'd like to say that I'm home and happy to be so. I have a few new adventures planned- one of which involves the season of LENT which is already upon us. This time last year I started another blog called the The Snowboarder Order to try to stay current with my beliefs and dig a little deeper into what Catholicism really means to me. haha. I haven't kept it up much aside from a quick blurp about Ron Paul and how important I think he is to Christians who believe in the freedoms we have been promised as Americans. I haven't canceled it, just haven't had something to post for a while. Soon, I'm sure. Anyway, when it comes to this lent I have a few other things planned. Keep your eyes peeled.

Lord, you'll get no sleep from my eyes.
We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Portland, OR 1/28/2008

First I'm going to spill the beans. I'm writing this from my home in Salt Lake City because Lydia and I decided that it would be the best idea for us to both fly home early instead of sticking it out until the tour comes through SLC (Feb 01). We were both just getting way too sick and, after one terrible sleep-less night, I made the decision- weary of possible future nights like this and the severe effects it might have on my oh so unsteady blood sugar related health problems. I later found out that our decision was a reallly smart one and I'm absolutely glad that I made it.

In my last post I explained that, instead of staying in San Fransisco, we decided to
start the treck toward Portland. The trip was supposed to take us around 10 hours and, we figured, between the 7 of us we would be able to drive all night and make it without a problem. I started the night driving because we were planning on staying at a friends house so the boys all celebrated Chris's 21st birthday. Lydia and I being the only two who didn't drink that night made me the pre-determined driver by default because Lydia was sick. This was fine and nobody was drunk or anything- after-all we were planning on only driving the mile or so to our friend's house. When we all made the decision that it would be safer to just start our treck north to Portland it was also me, by default, that would be the first to drive and that was just dandy by me. I love driving and, since I had sold my car in November, haven't had much time to drive at all in the past few months so I gladly took the wheel. Everything was great for the first 5 or so hours and Chris sat up front with me as my wingman while everybody slept. I love Chris and I enjoyed our conversation during those hours.

Things started to get a little shaky when, on the road, we were stopped and told that we would need chains for our tires to continue through Northern California. We were caught slightly off guard by this request so we had to turn the whole rig around and go to a walmart a few stops down. There we bought chains for the drive tires and what-not and then continued on our way. Chris took over the driving and Mattie as his wing-man while I sat in the back and tried to get some shut eye.

Sure enough, when we got to the out-post where everyone was stopping because of this required chain-thing, we found out that we were mis-informed and that, instead of putting chains only on the driving tires of the van, we would need chains on every single tire in our rig INCLUDING the trailer. Not having these and not wanting to go alll of the way back to the walmart, we decided to stop in that little mountain town to make a bathroom break and, hopefully buy the extra chains we needed at the gas station there.

When we stopped it turned out that the gas station wouldn't even be open officially for another hour. Good thing the bathrooms were outside because I really had to go. It was cold, we were all uncertain of what was ahead when it came to ice and cold, and everybody was exhausted, so we decided that the best thing to do would be to sleep until sunrise. This, however, turned out to be quite impossible for me for whatever reason- partially because there was little room in the van for sleep, partially because I had an energy drink of some sort not too long before, partially because I was freezing and didn't have a pillow or a blanket because I wasn't planning on sleeping in the car, and partially because I was already exhausted, hungry, and my blood sugar was going crazy.

After a ridiculously long night of me not sleeping but my brain starting to freak out because of this hypoglycemia problem, getting started again at sunrise after spending like 30 minutes figuring out the chains and then driving for .10 miles only to realize that they weren't required when the sun was up, and having like a mini mental freak out due to blood sugar and exhaustion, I made the decision to call someone up to buy me a plane ticket home from Portland (assuming we ever make it). It was a terribly long day of driving and trying my best to rest and stay calm while boys from Georgia (with next to no snow experience) navigated the icy and snowy mountain roads of Northern California and Oregon before we actually made it to Portland that evening. I think it took us around 17 hours in total of actual driving time to make it from San Fransisco to Portland. Oi.

Once we got there we hooked up with an old friend of the band's from Georgia. After everybody got settled, Mattie drove Lydia and I to where we were staying that night. We decided to stay with my old friend Rudy and his room mate and now awesome friend Michael in Portland instead of staying with the boys.
Michael and Rudy
Part of this decision was because I knew that it would be a good idea to stay someplace quiet where we could get some much needed rest although it was also in part because I promised Rudy that I'd stop by if I was ever in Portland. Here we were. What a good decision. Michael and Rudy was awesome to Lydia and I and made us feel comfortable with their warm hospitality. THANKS GUYS!
The Hiku board at their house. Mine is the first outsider's hiku! It reads:
We're here last minute
There's nothing like a rescue
The flat bed couch rules.
The next morning Rudy drove us to the airport and off we were on a direct flight (thank GOD) to SLC. My lovely boyfriend picked us up with flowers for both of us! The rest is history.

Although I backdated this entry to appear on the date I would have LIKEd to post it, I am actually writing this on February 4th. just short of a week from my flight. I have been sick and in bed for most of that week and am not FINALLY feeling good enough to venture out into the cold on my bicycle and look for jobs.

When I got home I found out that the job I was looking forward to coming home to is still so slow and has no accounts for us artists to work on. This means that all of the employees are out of work and we all need to probably find new jobs either indefinably or until they get enough work for us that we can come back. Who knows what will happen. All I know is that I need another job again and soon so I can pay bills for March. All of your prayers are greatly appreciated ;)

Chase and me on tour!
So, wait- Why was it such a good decision to come home early? As it turns out, the band got stuck in Portland and ended up missing a FEW shows. This delay put them about 24 hours behind in driving and they had to make, in their own words, "the most epic drive of our band's history" from about Portland to Denver and possibly further without much sleep and rest. They told me later that they are glad that we got to come home and that it would have been a terribly difficult drive for us two sick kids. What a blessing that we were able to be warm and at home while we were beating this illness instead of on AGAGAG's most epic drive ever. haha. I love those guys.

Oh what a life this is! Honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm blessed to have a supportive family and an absolutely incredible and loving boyfriend who is always right at my side through thick and thin.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

San Fransisco, CA- 01/27/08

We made it to San Fran! I can't believe Lydia or I haven't died yet. (JUST KIDDING). Alcatraz!

Although Lydia is still really sick. She is a trooper and is pulling through pretty well. I still have a tough cough but, other than that and the fact that I realllly need a shower, I'm doing dandy. We drove the few hours it was from Sacramento to San Fransisco and go to Slims, the venue, a little early. Sadly, they didn't have a shower room or anything like that for the bands touring through so, instead of a full shower, I washed my hair in one of the band's private bathrooms sink style. The chill rooms for the bands at Slims were actually pretty nice. All of the bands got their own rooms far away from the crazy crowd. Most venues have rooms like this. These types of band-only chill-out rooms are commonly referred to as the "Green Room" or Green Rooms. When a venue has a nice Green Room then the venue is a nice venue.
To the left is a pic of Lydia at Slims feeling a tad bit better. Better enough to come in, sit down, and use the computer for a bit. While she was online I decided to walk around a little bit. I went by a few of your typical city blocks only to find out that I was a little out of the way from where I would rather be DOWNTOWN. It's chill though and I had a nice 30 min walk.


Yes, I agree, SanFransisco is weird.

So I'm all walking around SanFran and am finally getting a chance to talk on the phone with Tyler without tons of people around... FINALLY... when lo and behold. You would not believe what I walked by. Right there, on this off-broadway and out of the way street and block is, probably, the only thing that I know of San Fransisco: The Chrome Bag store and factory. Yes, folks and fellow cyclists, of all the places I get dumped out onto in San Fransisco I just happen to get dumped right down the street from the Chrome shop and walk right by it. haha. I don't even have a Chrome bag but I just thought it was hilarious that this was the only place I was at and the only thing I really saw of SanFran. Fixed Gear kids, eat your hearts out.

For those of you who don't know what Chrome is... A Chrome bag is like the trendiest bag of choice for cyclists around the United States and often the bag of choice for those most privileged cyclists who ride as bike messengers and bike couriers for a living. Nike is to basketball as Chrome is to cycling. Urban Outfitters is to indie-pop kids as Chrome is to fixed gear culture. It was hilarious. I'm so glad to have walked by that place.

The show was pretty cool. Again, I really liked this venue and had a good time at it. Although I wasn't technically allowed to film, I got away with it anyway and got some awesome shots of the AGAGAG show.

An old friend of AGAGAG named Frank who used to be in a band called Showbread (from Savannah just like AGAGAG) for a short while lives in SanFran and came out to hang out with us for a little. He offered us his house to stay in and we greatfully took him up on it. After the show, and Chris's(AGAGAG's bass player) 21st birthday celebration, we headed over to Frank's house. Frank lives like right smack dab in the middle of SanFran and, after looking for a safe place to park the van and the trailer we all decided that no such safe place exists at ALL anywhere near where Frank lives.

Our most logical option at that point was to try to get a few hours of driving in toward Portland where we would be staying for the next few days. Portland is a bit of a hike from SanFran so I decided to take the wheel and let everybody rest up for a long night's haul. We figured we could take it slow since we had the next night off before having to play in Seattle which is only a few hours from Portland. We had a few contacts in Portland to stay with so without further adoo, we took off.

All I have to say is that we absolutly should have just risked parking the van on the crime-ridden streets and stayed with Frank that night. I'll explain why in my next post.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea