The Last Straw

Sorry for not posting in almost a month. I've been busy with commissions (update soon) and I managed to catch the summer virus that's going around.

OK, so this is a very recent pic of me at Santa Clarita Craft Lab. I took one look at this and my jaw dropped. Apparently the 20 lbs I worked so hard to get off over the past year have crept back - and they brought a few friends.

After a visit to the doctor and a look at my lipid profile, I finally decided to committing to an eating plan to go along with my exercise. I'd like to be able to go hiking without carrying the equivalent of a 40 lb weighted vest. My husband also claims he'd like me to stick around for the next few decades and not drop dead of a heart attack, thus leaving him single and really pissed of at my dead ass. Interested parties may follow my progress (including all the dirty little details - measurements and exercise and weight, OH MY!) on my weight loss blog.

For the rest of you who come for my ramblings about my dog, arts & crafts, pretty pictures and the occasional tutorial, I'll spare you the 'fat girl' ramblings on this site - I promise. LOL.

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She Rocks

Yeah, I know I go on and on about how awesome my personal trainer Allyson is and, well, I'm about to do it some more. Check out the video from Chip's blog of Al's workout. Of course the video wouldn't be complete without a special appearance by Lulu whom I know you remember from the recent skeledog painting (which still hangs at Body Tribe):




Oh yeah, and did I mention that she turned 40 this year?

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10,000 Feet And Climbing!

This time three years ago I was easily defeated when faced with a 1 mile hike at 10,000 feet. Not only was I defeated, I was totally humiliated and went to the car to cry and feel sorry for myself while Ron did the Discovery Trail loop alone.

Today was the official rematch: Krissi versus the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.

I'll just tell you: I've been more than just a little apprehensive about the hike all week. Even though I had a great time hiking 5 miles at 8K feet on Tuesday I was wary of my abilities up another 2,000 feet. Ron was convinced I would have no problem; me - not so much. The proof, however, is in the high-protein, low-carb pudding:


October 2005 (top) and today (below) on the Discovery Trail at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near Bishop, CA.


OK, so not ONLY did I make it to the summit with a smile on my face (about a 300 foot climb - on top of the already high elevation), I would have gladly taken on the 4.25 mile "Methuselah" Trail if it hadn't been too late to finish before dark (and it was COLD and windy today). Again, Ron said he'd expected this reaction given my recent 'Body Tribe bootcamp' workouts with Allyson, but I doubted my abilities. Seeing the side-by-side photos now, I'm even more pleased and surprised than when I finished the hike - mostly just pleased. Thanks Al.

Afterward, we drove through Rock Creek Canyon and looked at some more birch trees turning amber & gold, but we'd missed the best light for photographs. No problem - we found another great place to hike on our next trip: Rock Creek Lake. Once again, we rewarded ourselves with some unexpectedly awesome homemade pizza at the Crowley Lake General Store, which we discovered on our last trip. Mmmmm. Their pizza is great and it's even better after a workout.

And now, some pretty pictures of several thousand year old trees for y'all:

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What Our Photographs Say About Us (the Ron & Krissi version)

Greetings from beautiful Mammoth Lakes, CA my fair readers!  It's been incredibly beautiful this week: fair skies, cool breezes, bright sun, fall trees and cold nights (we have an awesome wood stove here).  Thanks to Allyson (getting me running up and down steps in a 20 lb. weighted vest), I have acclimated to the altitude pretty well this time and even hiked over 5 miles yesterday at over 8,000 feet - not only did I not whine or complain, I was the one convincing Ron to go 'just a little further.'  LOL.  I'm a little nervous about the Ancient Bristlecone Forest (White Mountains) hike tomorrow at between 11 and 12,000 feet since last time it didn't go so well.

Here's a pic Ron took after the climb to the top of Devil's Postpile yesterday:


We (Ron and I) have realized that these photo-op vacations we take are calling for a second camera.  I received a Nikon DX40 for my birthday a year and a half ago and I love it.  I think we're considering the Nikon D80 as an addition soon.  Today, as we were trying not to fight over who got the camera, we realized the difference in our personal photography styles. We both like the same things when we're composing - opposing lines/colors, implied movement, textures (more me), etc.  However, I have a tendency to photograph things in uber closeup mode, showing excruciating detail while Ron tends to favor more landscapey views.

Examples:

Devil's Postpile
me


Ron


A more obvious distinction:
me - of the bridge on the Minaret Falls trail (Devil's Postpile NM)


Ron - from the bridge on the Minaret Falls trail (Devil's Postpile NM)


I'm in the process of uploading more photos to my Flickr account -- keep an eye there for more examples (and some HELLA awesome views of Cali).

Here's the interesting part.  I like to quilt, sew on a small scale, and when I paint, I totally dig on doing stuff with teeny tiny brushes (I started off painting small pewter D&D figurines, as did Char Hall).  Before the economy went into the toilet and I was laid off from my "day" job, I was a contract negotiator who worked in legal departments.  That means I spent gleeful days arguing over whether "must" or "shall" (or "will" or "may") would be the most advantageous to us when used in agreements.

Ron, on the other hand, is really great at seeing situations and solving problems by what we call "getting to 20,000 feet."  He likes to look outside of his own personal toolbox in order to accomplish what he needs to at work.  He's also a great manager (proven by the fact that several people who have gone to another department/company have come back just to work for him).

See what I mean?  I see detail, I photograph details.  Ron sees the big picture and photographs the same.  Interesting.  We'd clearly be unable to escape an FBI profiler (dang)....

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Getting Smaller and Stronger!

First Turkish Get Up with 15# bar
Originally uploaded by krissi's stitchery & mexiphemera

Here's my first-ever video installment chronicling my shrinking body / increasing strength. Appropriately, it shows my first-ever Turkish get up with a barbell (15#), with a windmill at the top for added fun.

Thank you (again and again and...) to my trainer Allyson at Body Tribe for all the butt kicking, goal setting and for pointing her Side Kick at me and filming this!

Care to see how far I've come?

Here I am about 3 or 4 years ago, looking like an angry size 20 parakeet (round body, stick legs). I was too out of breath to do what should have been a moderate hike at altitude - I gave up and went to the car to cry. Want to know what's worse? That wasn't the worst shape I've been in (but I'm still searching for that "worser" photo).

Rock on peoples. If I can do it with my space alienism limitations, anyone can do it - you just have to want to.

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Rennaisance Woman, Al Seconds

I go on about my trainer, Allyson, a lot. It's because she's awesome and I figure she deserves some recognition for putting up with the original "grumble bee" (yep, that's me). In the past week, we've had a few gym breakthroughs despite all of my recent health ... err ... "annoyances:"

1. I look forward to going to the gym, especially if I'm stressed out or on a bummer;
2. I was able to hold my own bodyweight at the bottom of a chin-up position and then to pull my shoulderblades in and down (pulled me up about an inch or two)
3. I managed to do a couple glute ham raises (Google it if you need to), with a little help from Al and, yes, my butt is killing me today!

I've been training for 10 years as of this summer and I didn't hit any of these milestones before. A year (and a bit) with Al and I can't believe what she's gotten me to WANT to do.

Not only is she a personal trainer, but she's also an artist (ceramic sculpture), photographer, coffeehouse owner (the True Love) and musician. Here's a little of what the Sac Bee had to say this week about her new endeavor as a singer (not just for backup anymore!):

Allyson Seconds is well-known around Sacramento. Over the years, she's been in numerous bands including Go National and Ghetto Moments but it'd been years since she'd performed front and center, with the spotlight of attention shining solely on her.

So, the 39-year-old musician, ready to find her voice, called on longtime friend Anton Barbeau, currently playing music in the U.K., to help her make some music. The resulting songs, which will appear on the upcoming album "Bag of Kittens," are sweet pop gems steeped in melancholy and regret....READ THE REST OF THE POST HERE.

You can watch the video for "I Used To Say Your Name" on the Bag o Kittens MySpace page, and listen to the song along with quite a few others from her upcoming album. My personal favorite is the title track, Bag of Kittens, 'cause it's sweet, cute, a little rockin' and it's just so darn "Al."

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Random SEVERE Cuteness

Here are a couple of photos (sorry for the cameraphone quality) I took after my workout at Body Tribe today. Allyson is my super-awesome personal trainer who has gotten me to do stuff I never would have thought possible ... while smiling, no less.

Lulu is Al's first dog, and she (Lulu) is very cute, energetic, smart and eager to please. Lu and I have our own routine when I enter the gym and while I workout, but as soon as I'm getting ready to leave, she either takes a nap or goes to the r-i-v-e-r (we have to spell it in front of her). Today, the r... trip was early in the day, so Lu was tired and snuggly after her exhausting hour of warming me up (dog chasing) and then watching me lift.

Al asks Lulu if she needs a hug...


Awwwww! Dog hug!


I warned you about the severe cuteness. Here's a little more, if you can stand it.

Right after C!nder's little girl, Lily, started walking, she saw Lulu doing this to me at a Body Tribe art show. As soon as Lu left, Lily came over, put one leg over mine and leaned in for a "dog hug." I dig that kid.

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Why? Part 2

For part one in the "Why?" series, click here (sorry - it's only on my MySpace blog).

When I tell folks outside of my immediate circle that I train the way I do (i.e., like a powerlifter), I get looks of puzzlement and sometimes well-meaning, but ill-informed advice on watching out so I don't "bulk up" (umm, I've lost several sizes & many inches since starting this regimen). If you don't buy that, have you SEEN my trainer who can outlift and outbench me by several times???

Thanks to the training methods of Chip Conrad at Body Tribe, and the lovely Allyson Goble (aka Seconds)'s seemingly unlimited patience in actually training me (known at the Tribe as "The Grumble Bee"), I was able to do what I've decided to call "Krissi's Up The Garden Path Workout:"

- pickax swings (20 lb ax) 100 reps to loosen "soil" (ha! aka clay/granite/mining tailings); take as long as you need to complete all 100 reps - don't cut off your toes
- deadlift warmups, 10 reps: using a pair of vice grips, pull 3" rusted garden 'staples' out of clay
- shoveling wet earth/clay, 100 reps
- sandbag deadlift, toss, deadlift (50 lb bags of paver sand) 6 reps - pick up and toss bags, cut open and deadlift bags to empty
- grip strength/wheelbarrow combo:

- load brick pavers 4 at a time into wheelbarrow

- carry wheelbarrow 20 yards (though obstacle course - don't run over the tortoise) and unload bricks

(this combo can be done with heavy weight and light reps or light weight and more reps. Must move 50 SF of bricks.)
- sandbag deadlift, carry, deadlift (50 lb bags of joiner sand) 5 reps - move bags, position on bricks cut open and lift bag to empty sand
-body squats (planting flowers)

Geez.

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