Ooh, boy, am I going to have a serious bout of jetlag when I get home. It’s 3:43 a.m. in Utah…but only 11:43 at night in Maui. We just got back from one of those cheesy luaus where the food is mediocre, the show kitsch and yet you still wind up having a great time. It helps that there’s an open bar with the tender free pouring. And that I can never get enough of watching Sage dance and enjoy herself. A few more days and we’ll be back in town and I’ll be wondering what happened to the summer. Like Goto our 60-year-old Japanese surf instructor in Lahaina said about the waves: You wait and wait then all of a sudden it’s on top of you so you better be ready to paddle hard and ride otherwise you’ll miss it. Is that a bad thing, really? When the falls and winters are so spectacular along the Wasatch and down south? I feel like such a loser that I’ve climbed a handful of times at Rockreation, scaled the cliffs above the Needles gondola at Snowbasin once and done two hikes. How could I be this lame when I used to have multi-sport days? Now, I’m lucky if I get in a multi-sport week. I can’t blame motherhood. Ryan would watch Sage after 4pm if I asked him. I can blame the heat, the finishing touches of construction, the prohibitive high price of the only local gym in town (that needs a serious dose of humility- 24-hr Fitness won’t you please open up a branch in Park City?). But now that it’s gotten cooler, the Stump Jumper is begging for a spin. It’ll happen when I get home seeing as at home there’s no surf to tackle. Did I mention that I am the queen of the big foam board? I stood up on every wave I caught and rode it in until I felt it was time to paddle out. Pretty cool sport. And Lahaina, Maui, has got to be one of the best spots for learning. They call them surf farms- the schools that teach out there; dragging classes of 5 to 8 people each out to places like the Breakwall. And some bitch did put her board between my legs as she cut me off in mid-surf. But it’s not like we don’t experience the same on any given powder day. The good spots are bound to be packed. Goto, the Mr. Myagi of surfing, also compared the experience to driving on the freeway- you get in your lane and go. Don’t worry about the other drivers. Wish I could stay another two weeks here and hone the surfing- maybe get up on a hard board (or at least try) but the time will soon arrive to head back and kick the mountain sports back into gear. Maui’s been great though. The highlights- surfing, of course, having Matthew Murasko from Olukai Footwear take us through the Bamboo Forest just off the Hana Highway, brilliant sunsets, snorkeling in Honoloa Bay and watching Sage go nuts for the water (in the jetted tub, the pools at the Westin and the ocean). Tomorrow we’ll do the Maui Onion Festival with my parents. I hope they’ll have Maui onion rings so that the next time I dine on onion rings in some stateside restaurant I can brag that I had real Maui onion rings in Maui.
I think I shall ski tomorrow. Yes, Snowbird is still open and yes I’m still interested in making turns. I know it’s supposed to be summer but the trails are too muddy for hiking or biking and the mountains are still covered in snow. I’ll admit, part of my motivation is a story I’m working on about the economics of late season skiing (check out the IndustryReport.com June 16) but the other is that I’m desperate for exercise. I climbed at Rockreation with Kristen last Wednesday and that was about it since my week in Mammoth May 16 where I skied one day and snowboarded (or shall I say, got my body pummelled) one day. I’m committed to climbing at least once a week but I really thought I would be moved into my new office – stairstepper and all- by now and back to my workout regime. Best laid plans. My sheetrock guy went to jail for a week on cocaine charges and the momentum jerked to a halt. Needless to say, I didn’t welcome him back after his stint in the “graybar motel”. I’ve already unwittingly had my camera and watch stolen since construction began, I don’t need to attach a neon sign to my things now. So I still have a bunch of little things let to finish.
The thrift store finally hauled off my entertainment center and my parents big screen TV. Funny. I thought that piece of rear projection history would be worth a whole lot more than whatever that 5-n-dime in Heber is going to sell it for. Sigh. It was one of the first ever on the scene. I dragged it out from San Diego and it worked great until I upgraded with the folks’ next hand-me-down. Then it sat in the garage collecting dust; failing to sell at last year’s yard sale and throughout the year on Craigslist.
Tomorrow, I’ll ski and forget all about it. I hear it’s mid-winter up there. Looking forward to the bragging afterwards. “I skiied the last day of May.” And next week, I’ll have “skiied the first weekend of June.” We are promised turns at least until Dad’s Day. No word yet on Fourth of July skiing but no matter. Ryan, Sage and I are off to Boston to visit his parents. Who would have thought that this whitebred American Jewish chick would wind up with a Portuguese (non-practicing) Catholic? I did always have a thing for dark, handsome foreigners. It started around the time The Godfather won those Oscars.
Sage Signs For More
Speaking of which, those gorgeous blue eyes of hers are here to stay! Her mousy blond hair is past her shoulders and although I clipped her some bangs to keep the strands from getting glued to her snot nose in the mornings, they have grown past her nose again. She can point to most all the parts of her body, she still loves baths and when we watch “So You Think You Can Dance,” she actually drops to the floor and tried to breakdance. I promise to video this soon so you can all chuckle with us. It’s too cute. She’s also learning to jump up and down. She does great in her crib but only gets one foot off at a time when she’s on the ground. She occasionally gets them both airborn but when she lands, she falls. Tomorrow I bet she gets it. Her words are coming along and it sure helps that she knows sign. Otherwise, it would be hard to figure out whether she wanted the book or the ball, juice or shoes, cracker, cookie or cheese. It’s so much easier to communicate with her. But I forget how important it is to teach everyone else the signs too. My mom whined when she spent the day with her in Mammoth. She laughed and scolded me because Sage signed to her all day long and she couldn’t understand a single word or figure out what Sage wanted. Oh the poor things!
So now at 21 months, Sage can say (and sign) More, Ball, Book, Please, Cheese, Da-EE, Mama, Juice, Food, Shoes. She can sign- shirt, pants, bath, hug, baby, boy, yes, thank you, diaper, poop, toes, dirty, water, cracker, cookie, dog, sleep, pacifier, milk, up, down, and I’m sure there are some I missed.
When we read Goodnight Moon, she points to the pictures in the book as I say them- Goodnight Cow jumping over the moon, goodnight brush, goodnight stars. I ask her where the balloon is and she puts her finger on the image. I have no idea if she’s smarter than the average toddler but it’s so thrilling to see what was once a lump, interacting and responding like a little human being.
Tenaya is her protector. If she’s not sleeping at the side of my bed, she’s curled up at the baby’s door. Must be those scraps she snags from the highchair at mealtime. Only takes a few snips of bacon to know who your best friend should be.
Well, I best hit the hay if I want to have any energy for the slushfest tomorrow. The forecast stated 60 degrees and sunny in the mountains! Toodles.
Wow, I think this has been the longest stretch I’ve gone without blogging since I started blogging. I blame the stellar Wasatch ski season, my gargantuan home construction and being the mom of a one year old. Does that buy me a hall pass? I still have 60 hours of programming to watch on my DVR! On the bright side, I’ve painted the new spaces and have moved onto purchasing a office desk and appliances for the downstairs mom-in-law space and Sage has said her first word beyond Mama. She can say “MORE”. Yup; her very first word; ironic isn’t it? A true Adler. She also loves bagels, takes huge spills without a tear shed, and laughs and babbles up a storm. She’s walking fast but not running yet. Signing more words- ball, baby, bath, socks, shoes, diaper- but more importantly she ‘gets it.’ When we wake in the morning, she picks up her toys before we leave her room, I ask her where her binky is and she looks for it and finds it, she tells me what she would like to eat, she grabs her ankles and lifts up her butt for the diaper change, stops fussing before I count to ‘5’ (9 times out of 10 :)). Our baby is growing up! She’ll be 21 months on the 12th so I suppose it’s to be expected. Hoping the “terrible twos” will pass us like Elijah.
To see the evolution of the construction, http://picasaweb.google.com/mtnmedia/HomeAdditionRemodel?authkey=YL7DnLtOcdY
and of Sage: http://picasaweb.google.com/mtnmedia/19MonthsOld
I got my ass spanked in the terrain park at PCMR today. Not that I crashed or anything major but with hyper adrenaline charges pumping, I was whisked into the park and pride forced me to step up – on 4 trips through the beast. It was Jonesies. Three years ago this was the baby park. Now it’s the medium-sized one but you could have fooled me. #1 – I cleared the knuckle each time but came down on my tails before correcting my balance. The PSIA clinician said I was an ACL accident waiting to happen. Not good for the psyche when it was right back up for round two. Bigger, faster and more centered, I nailed all three landings but damn those can still feel like someone is drilling into your feet from below. #3- first jump came up short and I landed on the knuckle. No biggie really but being concerned about clearing the next jump, I started my straightrun from that rollover. I was flying and then I was flying. I caught so much air it scared me. I nearly hit the flats after the landing. Not good. I pulled out to the side and steadied myself for going sideways on the ”beginner” box. No problem riding straight on the 2-foot wide feature of flat white plastic with metal edges. But popping onto it and twisting 90-degrees so that I was perpendicular to it was another animal. Four times I tried; three I wiped out on my left hip and once I stayed on my feet- barely. My ankle, arm, hip, middle back and neck are all a little achey tonight.
I must be touched in the head because I really want to go back and conquer that beast. I bet if it was a sunny day, things would be different! Instead, the light was flat, it was snowing and frickin’ cold. Plus, my hip flexors are weak from lack of training and I seemed to be working hard for each 180 and pop.
Back at the ranch, I found Lucas sheetrocking my new addition. It’s coming along- slowly as always- but it’s beginning to transform into something resembling a living space. The plan is to acid stain the concrete floor tomorrow. I can’t wait. A new DIY project for Jill! So far, I’ve installed switchplates, lighting fixtures and painted and installed an organizer in my closet. I would have done more if there was more to do. We’re moving soooo slowly. I can’t believe it’s taking more than 6 months. That’s crazy.
Ryan’s well and has been a huge help with the baby. For example, he drove up from Salt Lake to pick her up from the sitter’s yesterday while I was stuck in SLC shopping for supplies. He came up tonight to watch her so I could make my digital photography class but I blew that off and we hung out for dinner instead. I do want to get a better understanding of my Canon but the class is boring and filled with that photograher’s gibberish like F-stop, shutter speed, histogram, spot metering that puts me to sleep. After a day like today, I’d fade fast. I think I need a one on one to ever understand the mechanics of anything non point-n-shoot.
We spent three hours last Saturday shooting around a drab park (it was starting to snow, everything was dead (or hibernating), grey and still. Plus, I was freezing. It must have been in the 20s.
Here’s one of my shots. What do you think? Do I have talent or what?
I am going to try to go back next week but I may have lost my way.
Updates:
Skiing’s still really nice although the powder is now packed powder and locals are sitting things out until the next big dump. Tuesday maybe?
Sage said mama tonight and for the first time I seriously think she gets what it means. She has said it in the past but then it was more like part of her babbling. Today at dinner Ryan asked her, “Where’s mama?” Sage looked right at me and said, “Mama.” I know this shouldn’t be so exciting but when you’ve waited nearly 19 months and everyone starts wondering why your baby is ‘slow’ at speech you can’t help but swoon over the accomplishment. She has been signing for communication. She knows the signs for milk, diaper, more, please, cheese, juice, sleep and mama. I so love being able to give Ryan shit about baby sign language. When I took my class and tried to teach him some words he said no way and that he would have to see it to believe. Now he believes.
She walks, she crawls up steps, she loves bathtime, sleeps 12 hours a night and is still mostly eating food from the baby jars. She likes them and they’re all natural so why not. This way she’s guaranteed to eat her veggies (unlike her mama). And speaking of eating, Sage is 24 pounds and 32 inches. She has outgrown clothes from my almost 3 yr old niece! The two babies are now about the same size.
Tenaya’s starting get some payback for all of these months of (relative) inattention. The baby is tossing balls to her and Tenaya retrieves. ok, gotta go. Have to sleep. After three nights in a row of a mere 5 hour shuteye, I popped an Ambian and am now about to tuff my face into this keyboard. L8tr!
The House of Hype brought to you by The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino offered a darkened corridor, cocktail waitresses and a live DJ as you strolled the avenue of sponsors from Goodyear (no tires just cans of Tire Shine and Hotwheels toy cars) to USA Golf and Havaiana Sandals (create your own flipflops). As I crafted my Mongolian Barbecue Basket Shoe at the Puma booth, I felt the heat of cameras and fans. It wasn’t for me; ha ha. Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy) was in the house; picking out her own set of Pumas. Josh promised my custom sneakers would be shipped by the end of the month and I got out of the limelight by scooting over to Oakley. A pixie-like, cool chick named Chelsea handed me a pair of their new Breathless sunglasses. Olsen twin glam with the technical specs of a true Oakley. They definitely give me that Sundance ‘look’. Throw in the Frye Gloria pumps (Frye is making fashion shoes in addition to boots now) and my Utah friends might not recognize me. The style continued at The Boost Mobile Lounge at The Marquee. The New York nightclub has once again assumed the Buddha Lounge space on Main Street during the first four days of the Festival. The boutique clients lining the swanky, intimate bar introduced celebs like Marcia Gay Harden and Rex Lee (Entourage) to Klipsch speakers, Lia Sophia jewelry, cuddly LNA “boyfriend” Tees and Primp cotton/poly hoodies and waffle tops decorated with cute little piggies, pandas, moons or sheep. I got the most fabulous ruffled dress coat from Tulle and it was a tough decision; they have so many charming styles. The bauble on my finger is a Lia Sophia original you can find only on their website (liasophia.com) or through in-home party reps, and the Boost reps insisted I put my Sprint phone in their new Boosted Device Case designed by graffiti artist Madsteez. What I appreciated more was their information on Boost Mobile itself – a Sprint division – that offers unlimited local and long distance cell calls for as little as $35 (no contract, no credit check, no activation fees) depending on your home calling area. Though this probably wouldn’t work for a world-traveler like myself (you pay .15/minute outside your extended area), my boyfriend would save a ton of money and those H1 Visa resort employees will dance circles for this new product. Another company with a fresh cousin is New Balance’s PF Flyers. Sporty, action/fashion shoes like the Journa are the perfect spring shoe for a mountain girl. Finally, I will be anxiously waiting for a Treesje handbag to arrive on my doorstep. The collection of bags on display was gorgeous. We’ll see if it actually shows once the Sundance circus leaves town. I capped off my visit with a smoothy like drink from Lifeway Kefir. With the pro-biotic cultures for a healthier immune system, I might be able to ward off a potential hangover from tonight’s parties: MySpace, The Horrors and Maroon 5. Three hours later…..I did. The open bars stood no chance against my resilience. As I eecked into traffic on Deer Valley Drive at 6 p.m. I said, “Screw it!” and turned around. The mess was obscene. We were at a crawl from every intersection. By the time I got home, changed and back to town it would be 9. Instead, I called Ryan, asked him to bring my Fox Girls top, parked at a friend’s house to do my makeup, and met him on Main. Just in time to watch the ambulance haul away some guy who had tried to steal a plasma screen from the Main Street Mall but wound up plunging off the balcony of Shabu in his attempt to flee. I heard later, he suffered only a concussion. Of course, he was also under arrest. At the Horrors screening of their documentary “Counting in Fives” at The Marquee, the champagne and Maker’s flowed. We sat down behind Jared Leto in a dorky bomber hat, spying on him as he hobnobbed with the punk band members. The flick itself wasn’t really my thing (I’m not into punk nor rockumentaries) but I appreciated the scene. I guess the parties on Friday overloaded city circuits and the power went out all over Main Street. The blackout lasted more than 20 minutes- enough time to sneak next door for the Maroon 5 show at Harry O’s. No one paid attention to us because we randomly happened to have the same color wristband as their guests. I almost wished we had been bounced. The band played well but crowd was overwhelming. The only celeb (?) in sight was Ian Zering. I kept silently wishing someone would call the fire marshal- it was that packed. We got out at 1 and headed over to the T-Mobile Diner at the VAY. Live music wafted amid the yelps from drunk snowtubers outside. We entered and bee-lined for the tureens of gourmet mac n’ cheese, apple crisp and chocolate bread pudding. Former model Rachel Hunter, with fuller hips, stood nearby with friends. Eventually it was time to head home but this time there was no traffic. We hitched and a nice woman from L.A. picked us up and brought us to Ryan’s car at Kimball Junction. You gotta love small towns. Stay tuned for Saturday’s update, the people, the parties and the ginormous Sundance attendance thanks to the writers’ strike.
