last day in cali! Sunshine, biking, and lakes.

random pics by the lake... now that it's finally nice out!!!

the pinecone obsession continues....

getting some freckles back!

Memorial day weekend was awesome, we picked up a bunch of sweet bargains garage sale-ing, got in some great mountain biking and absorbed some sunshine by the lake.

Tomorrow I am heading back east for some home time and then some ski team dryland training coming up soon!

My first memorial day weekend!

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!!

My first Memorial Day Weekend has been hectic so far!! So many garage sales, so little time!!! I have never experienced anything like it! We started at 8 and finished by 2.... full day of bargaining, purchasing and laughing at all the crazy things we found out there!

this is my garage sale collage.

What it was all about: searching for sings, finding garage sales, and american flags.

Marco's first purchase: a tool bucket!! 

Ros's first amazing purchase: North American Weasels! So EXCITING and so jealous of her new poster.

My first purchase: retro blue road bike with a LEATHER saddle!! sick.

Can't wait to ride this all over town!!! the saddle and the saddle bag are definitely highlights! 

Checking out some furniture that was outta our budget...

sexy wig things....

Two recliners and one lonely non recliner.... I am sitting in this couch as i type! soooo comfy. 

My new retro luggage!!!  too bad I travel with 6 times as much stuff....

And finally... some sweet mountain biking around truckee.

It's been snowing on and off all week, but we've been able to get in some good bike rides anyway!

After I took this picture we ran into a huge snowstorm and had to turn around!

posing over the truckee river with my pink brace!

I have fallen back in love with mountain biking this week.  For a while I didn't think I would be able to bike this summer, but things are going well ( I got full flexion a few days ago!) and I feel steady and safe on the trails!! It's been so sweet!

Marco's been getting fancy while I watch safely on the sidelines!

I'm already excited to get back out there tomorrow!!!!

Yay for garage sales, mountain biking, and SUNSHINE!

happy memorial day weekend I guess?

Furniture Painting!

This could have been a sweet picture of mammoth at night, but there was a snowcat right in the middle of the frame....  BUT if you look closely you can see the wind-blown snow flying off the the peak, some chairlifts, another snowcat and some stars!

Anyway... that was last week.   This weekend Marco and I checked out some craigslist listings of some furniture that looked kind of cool.  From far (like this pic) it looks half decent, but up close this was a gold trimmed off-mint-green desk.  We ended up getting 2 dressers, a mirror, a nightstand and this little desk.  They all have potential, but definitely need some work!!! SO we got to work!

First off, we sanded down all the surfaces in order to repaint.

voila.

I chose GERANIUM RED!  I thought it would be cool to add a splash to whatever room this ends up in!

We then went for a sweet bike ride where I found the BIGGEST pinecones of my life!  Sugar pine pinecones!

And finally, after riding, physio and working out, I finished painting last night!

And lining the drawers!  Ikea style! ha.

That was the first, and easiest piece we have.  Its fun to make something look completely different than when you got it.  Stay tuned over the next few weeks for more furniture remodelling!! And pillow and t-shirt making!!! I'm on a roll!

Art project: painted pillowcases!

I've been wanting to paint my own pillowcase covers for a little while now, and the FREEZING COLD weather outside (-2 and snowing) has given me a little bit of free time indoors to attempt to make something cool.

I chose a neutral fabric for the actual pillowcase and cut out my "print" of a tree and leaves.  I took the print, generously painted all over it, and then printed it onto the pillow!

Voila!

I let them dry for a bit.... and hand painted a few ghetto areas that didn't print amazingly...

And then I hand sewed and stuffed it!  My first pillow EVER! yay.  And it already made some pillow friends! 

Since I already had an epic fail of a bike ride today: numb hands and feet, sore face from hail-snow whipping me, and being so frozen that I had to turn around...I think that I will spiff up a couple of white shirts I have sitting around!  Yay for terrible weather and arts and crafts and COFFEE.

Being tourists....

The drive between Mammoth and Truckee has some random interesting tourist attractions that we decided to check out! The first stop was Mono Lake.  Mono Lake is a salt lake that is three times as salty as the ocean.

All the weird rock/salt/sand formations are called Tufa.  And there was a massive wind storm raging on the opposite shore!!

We stood on some tufa to get a better view... but later realized we weren't supposed to. oops, sorry.

According to the information center, Mono Lake has one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, despite the fact that no fish (or anything bigger than brine shrimp) can live in the salty water.  The brine shrimp, alkali flies, and algae feed thousands of migratory birds year round!

And the flowers are pretty too.

ahhhh.

We walked/bushwhacked though all those bushes to get to the Tufa and emerged scratched, dirty and sandy.  We later realized that just down the road there were nice little walkways right to the beach. ugh.

HOW TUFA FORMS!

After a GREAT LEARNING SESSION....

We continued on our journey and decided to stop at "bodie" the GHOST TOWN!!

It was a booming Gold mining town in the late 1800's, but later got deserted and has been preserved ever since.

Creepy and cool...

Apparently at one point up to 10'000 people were living here!!

Traditional WC action.

It's almost at 9000 feet in the middle of nowhere... not so appealing.

It was cool to see but we arrived at 3:55pm and tourists are supposed to be out by 4:00pm.  So we just did a car tour, but apparently the buildings are still furnished the way they were left. cards on the table and all!

We finally arrived back in Truckee to ANOTHER SNOW STORM.

im not impressed.

Sunny rainy cloudy windy calm desert lush flat mountainous

It was cloudy and Sunny.

Mountainous and flat.

Windy and calm.

Desert-like and lush!

The countryside around here is random!!!  And Cool.  Sometimes pretty, sometimes boring.

We loaded the car with our bikes and hit the road to find some flatter riding!

The weird indecisive weather along the way....

Our landmark: the green church.

Clouds make my pictures look cool.  If this was just a picture of mountains, I don't think it would be nearly as interesting.... but thats just my opinion.

We biked a long, flat, straight road; in and out of the sunshine; on the flats, heading towards the mountains.

we made a new friend.

we watched as the water, desert, mountains, rain, and sun flew by us.

Marco watched out for cows crossing.

Success! He didn't hit any!

Mole hills???? I just thought they looked cool.

a bientot.