Hot Dawgz & Handrails and Arbor Family Reunion

It was a crazy weekend. I hitched a ride with Burton rider Alex Andrews and we drove his truck 10 hours to Big Bear, California. He had his motorcycle, and from Bear he left me with his truck to cruise to Hollywood where he got to hang out with his favorite pro skateboarder, Dylan Rieder. I tried my best to find a couch to sleep on, but everyone had moved from Bear, and the one person who lived there happened to be in the "Valley". So I cuddled up in Alex's truck and spent the night parked next to the zoo. I could hear the coyotes or wolves howling all night. It was way colder than I thought it'd be. The next day I walked around Bear a little before the Arbor team started showing up. I met everyone who rides for Arbor and the filmer and photographer. It was an awesome weekend; we watched our team riders (Scott Vine, Nick Visconti, Ian Sams, Cody Boan) slay it in the rail comp, had huge bomb meals, and just hung out all weekend. To be honest, I was overwhelmed. This is the first time I've been at something like this. To be a part of a company that is so big in the industry is just crazy. All the talent that was there is insane. I felt like I hardly fit in. I opened up a little bit more the second night. I can't wait to shred with all of them this winter! After a long weekend, Alex and I finally headed back home and got in at 5am Monday. Alex is off to Europe in a couple days to do a Video Grass Tour. I thought I had a crazy schedule, Alex has it way worse. Alex has come a long way since his days growing up here in Ogden. He now owns his own house in Salt Lake City. He rides on the pro team for Burton, Analog and Electric. It was cool digging into his brain a little bit and I got to know him a lot more after 20 hours on the road. I wish I had photos of the trip, but I dropped my phone in the toilet on the last day! I was devastated! My iPhone never woke up. Which is okay because now I'm paying half as much on a sprint smart phone. I love having internet on my phone, it's essential! So now it's wait for the snow and pray it comes early! I heard it's in the forcast!

Check out the Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails webcast replay at: www.snowboardermag.com

One More Week

Down to my last week. I've been super active and have been taking advantage of the nice weather because I know it's not going to last much longer. I love this time of year when everyone is so excited about the upcoming season and you can't go anywhere without it being mentioned. There's a new video premier every weekend and the anxiety starts rising. This year the big one is The Art of Flight by Travis Rice. It's going to change snowboarding forever and help our sport go mainstream. Everyone should watch this video! In case you didn't know, I grew up with Travis and went to high school in Jackson with him. He was older, and I didn't really hang out with his crew, but I do remember being in Rob Kingwell's freestyle camp when I was in 7th grade and remember Travis boosting out of the pipe so big and his coach said, "This kid's going all the way." And today he is the man pushing the sport. He was the first to put doubles into competition, and he's the first to create a video so good that everyone, even people who don't watch snowboarding, will want to see. I'm proud to have grown up remotely near him in a little town in Wyoming.

It's definitely been a struggle keeping up my commitment to my goal. I've broken some rules here and there and have had some sad thoughts about how far off I was from my goal. I was doing great for the first half, and then found myself in a plateau. I went down to 133 lbs at the best, then went back up to 136, now I've been at 134-135 consistently for the past two weeks. After I noticed that, I got pretty sad, and broke my rules by drinking soda and eating some candy. I didn't gorge myself, so I am happy about that, and I feel good about getting back on track. I still want to try to get down to 130 consistently, but that will take even more dedication. I try to look in the mirror more, and that helps my motivation. I want to be completely fat-free and I've always had a lil' extra in the belly. I think girls with a slight six pack is sexy and I want to eventually have that. I'm going to have to change and be committed 110%. But I think I can do it. I just have to keep reminding myself of my potential.

So the Arbor photo shoot is next weekend and I am so excited! It's going to be a blast hanging out with the crew again and meeting more of the Arbor family. Stay tuned to see how it goes! And thanks for your support and reading my posts. During the winter I will have more exciting things to write about, so keep reading and watching the edits! Hopefully I will be the next Ski Utah Park Rat Blogger and you can keep up with me and the Utah scene through SkiUtah.com!

Week 5 Review

I'm not going to lie. I've been struggling. Sometimes all I want is a refreshing Dr. Pepper or an ice cream. I gave in the other day and had a "Skinny Cow" ice cream sandwich. I savored it for as long as I could. I haven't been loosing the weight as much anymore. I seem to be at a plateau. If I want to keep shedding the pounds, I've got to eat healthier and not give in to the temptations that surround me. I have a new job at a hotdog stand, so that will tie up my time a lot, and going to the gym is going to be harder. That's no excuse though...it just means getting up earlier. I have a new goal of waking up at 8am every morning except my day off. I'm not use to that and the mornings seem to come so soon. But that's the sacrifice I have to make. Some people get up way earlier all the time, so I don't think I have it too bad! I'm down to the last couple weeks before I head out to Cali for an Arbor photoshoot. I have to stay on track and not loose my momentum if I want to look as good as possible. I know it will be hard, but I can do it! I've made it this far...

Halfway Point

Only 3 weeks left. It's go time. I'm going to work out harder and push myself everyday. I'm going to do more mountain biking, yoga and weight training. Now that I've lost the excess 8 pounds that was really unnecessary, I can loose the rest of the 7-10 pounds that I've been at before (but only a couple times and had trouble staying at it). So I know it's possible, but it might take longer than 3 weeks. I'm not going to be bummed out too bad if I don't reach my goal because if you set your goal high, then you'll probably come close. But if you don't even have a goal, then you're not going anywhere. I like the quote: "Reach for the moon, and you might land on a star." Either way, I've changed my life for the better. I feel better, look better and think better. After I reach my goal, my goal will be to keep it up, which is something I always slack in. But this time is different. It's now or never and if I want it to be now, it's so important to be in the best shape I can be in. I haven't had any soda or sweets in the past 3 weeks, and I'm going to act like a recovering addict and count it for the rest of my life. However, that's a very very long term goal, so I'll just stick to a more short term goal and see if I can go a year. I also want to keep being aware of what I'm eating. Keeping a balance in my diet is important to maintain energy and health.

It's amazing what my boyfriend has found when researching foods and what the FDA allows in our food. It's too horrifying to even tell you. So the more I know, the better I can eat and feel good about it. If you ever want to know more, a good book is "Natural Cures" by Kevin Trudeau. It will open your eyes to what our government doesn't tell you. Natural is always the way to go, and the more natural things you surround yourself with and put in your body, the better your life will be. The greed of mankind has corrupted our bodies and we are filled with more toxins than ever before. It's sad, but you can choose to do something about it. That's all you can really do, unless you want to pack up and move to the rainforest and live off the land...tempting.